Never Close Our Eyes
by RevenantChild
Summary: The Red Queen must be stopped but they had to go through the horde of mutated undead army first. However, should Wesker be trusted? Or do Alice and Jill have to fight him as well? Alice regains her powers and Jill regains her free will. Takes place after Retribution. Alice/Claire Jill/K-Mart
1. Chapter 1

**CH 01**

Everything hurts.

Jill really did a good number on her, with some additional injuries from her fight with the evil Rain clone. She thought she would die from that blow to her chest, she was sure that her heart stopped for a moment. But for some reason, she still survived.

She felt a familiar warmth covering her left hand and it was the only comfort she had to distract herself from the throbbing pain all over her body.

When Alice opened her eyes she was greeted by an almost identical but younger pair of blue eyes gazing at her. She realized that it was Becky who was holding her hand, afraid to let go and lose her mother for the second time. She reassured her with the best motherly smile that she could muster and reached out her right hand, even though it was still a little painful to do so, to affectionately tap a finger on the little girl's nose before gently brushing her knuckles against her slightly moist cheek. The little girl must have been crying, judging from the faint but apparent redness around her eyes. She had adopted Becky from the moment when she called her "mommy" and hugged her in the suburban house after raining bullets on the decaying skull of an undead.

There was a slight turbulence and the aircraft that they were on jerked a little. Alice did her best to suppress a pained groaned when a particular sore limb was disturbed, she felt Becky tighten her grip on her hand a little when the little girl noticed a small grimace betraying her facade. She gave her another reassuring smile before noticing a head of blonde hair entering her field of vision.

The brunette, thankful for the small pillow under her head, saw Jill stretching her neck to relieve the stiffness caused by the position that she presumably slept in while sitting on the seat nearest to Alice's bed. She didn't notice her there before because Becky was between them. Alice realized that Jill was near her side after she passed out from her fight with Rain, she felt her heartened to know that the blonde is her ally once again. She smiled at Jill in greeting as the other woman breathed a sigh of relief as she walked over to her side, kneeling down on one knee behind Becky, and tenderly touched her left knee which Alice was grateful for the added distraction from physical pain. Alice was expecting a less amiable Jill, even without the scarab on, after what she had done to Angie. The blonde smiled at her and said, "Glad to have you back."

Jill's voice lack the tone of malice that Alice was expecting and she released a breath that she didn't know was holding before responding, "Glad to have _you_ back." She wasn't surprised that her voice sounded raspier than usual.

Both women shared a small laugh, or at least, tried to in Alice's part, since the pain on her bruised ribs prevented her from doing so. After a moment, the mirth in Jill's dark blue eyes were gone and she suddenly wore a serious expression, mixed with guilt and empathy, on her face.

Alice didn't notice that Becky flinched from Jill's presence until she inched away from the blonde while holding the brunette's hand more possessively with her own tiny ones. Jill must have noticed and Alice frowned worriedly at the child's reaction towards her, but she perfectly understood Becky's reluctance to be around Jill even though Alice knew that the blonde is an ally now. When she was still under the influence of the Red Queen via the scarab attached to her chest, Jill didn't have the luxury of making a good first impression on Becky.

She heard Jill clear her throat and Alice focused her attention to what she was about to say, ignoring the unpleasant throbbing on her head.

"Alice... I..." Jill paused, closing her mouth and swallowed nervously. She knit her brows together in a rueful expression and continued, "I'm really sorry... For everything."

Alice could only nod in understanding, knowing what the other woman was talking about but she also knew that Jill has no fault for what happened. "There's nothing to apologize about, Jill."

"No." Jill said, "It's my fault for pushing you away, after you..." She glanced at Becky who had her back towards her, "After what I thought you did to Angie. I eventually found out that you were under Umbrella's control back then, but I still hated you after knowing that and I didn't tell Carlos and the others where you went." The blonde reached a hand to her own chest and felt the puncture wounds left from the scarab, they would eventually turn into scars, and she involuntarily shivered at the memory when she was still under its control, "But when I was captured, I finally understood what it was like to be Umbrella's puppet. I'm sorry, Alice. I'm sorry for hating you and I'm sorry for the things I did since the attack in Arcadia." Jill looked away, her bottom lip trembling a little, "The worst part of it was that I was aware of everything I did."

"It's alright. I forgive you, even though most of the actions you did weren't under your control."

"I forgive you, too. For what happened about Angie. And thank you for everything you did." Jill tried to reach Alice's hand, but seeing that it was held by both of Becky's hands, she settled on gently squeezing the brunette's knee instead.

They both smiled at each other before Alice redirected her attention to the IV bag hanging above her, there was a question that she wanted to ask Jill, but she dreaded for the answer. Her thoughts went to a familiar redhead, and she looked at her friend who was gazing expectantly at her as if she knew that Alice wanted to ask her something. The brunette swallowed a lump in her throat and said, "Were there survivors from the attack on the Arcadia?" She wasn't ready to know yet, but she has to. She needed to know.

There was a pause as Jill's eyes glazed over, then she responded slowly, "Yes, but..." Alice felt her heart sink as the blonde continued, "I don't know what happened to them. You were the top priority, followed by Chris Redfield and Claire Redfield."

"Umbrella is after them, too?" Alice always thought that she was Umbrella's only target, now she knows that she was wrong.

Jill nodded before continuing, "You were on the osprey that I was on and the Red Queen ordered me to return immediately after we captured you. Chris and Claire were captured too, but they were on a different osprey with other survivors. There were four ospreys carrying survivors and only one of them returned with us because there was something..." Alice felt a small surge of hope coupled with uncertainty when she heard that, "Or _someone_ prevented the others from not coming with us. Only one osprey that carried survivors came with us and Chris and Claire weren't on it."

Alice breathed a sigh of relief, maybe there's a chance that Claire, K-mart and Chris are still alive. "Who prevented the other ospreys from coming with you?"

The blonde shook her head, "I don't exactly know what happened since the Red Queen didn't show me enough information about it. All I know though is that there was one osprey that was from the Arcadia..." She furrowed her brows, trying to recall the events, "It fired at some of the ospreys, destroying two of them, while the three that carried survivors just _stopped_ following us as the Red Queen told me to order the pilot to flee the area immediately."

"So is Claire still alive? Safe?" She needed Jill to say it, she needs the reassurance that she could see the redhead again. The physical pain she was in is a far cry from the void that she felt in her heart, knowing that she failed the people she vowed to protect.

"Alice," The blonde said as she scooted closer to Alice as much as she can without touching Becky, "Everything's going to be fine. If they weren't able to follow us to Russia, then they're in a safer place."

Alice raised her right hand towards Jill, ignoring the protesting ache, and the blonde grasped it immediately, black and purple intertwined with each other, "Promise me, Jill."

"I promise you." Jill said it with conviction that Alice believed her, despite the pessimistic thoughts nagging at the back of her mind. Alice then felt her energy draining and Jill noticed it as she lowered her hand on her torso, "Rest." She heard Jill say as Alice struggled to keep her eyes open, "We still have an hour before we reach our destination."

After making sure that Alice is asleep, Jill brushed a purple gloved hand against the other woman's cheek. Her friendship with the woman started when they met at Raccoon City, though Jill was cautious towards her at first. But her respect for Alice grew when the brunette showed determination to help them get out of the city alive and it grew deeper when Alice took a shrapnel for Angie when the helicopter crashed. Perhaps she grew feelings for the other woman, but she never had to opportunity to explore it when Jill's misplaced anger towards Alice tore them apart after witnessing Angie's death. She didn't tell Carlos what actually happened after Alice's absence and they eventually encountered Claire's convoy. She stayed with them for a while before drifting away from the group in order to track Alice down and avenge Angie's death.

But after being captured by Umbrella and eventually turned into the Red Queen's puppet, she finally understood what Alice have been through and she felt horrible for everything that she had done before and after the scarab was placed on her. She dreaded at the thought if the survivors from the Arcadia and the other groups that she had raided under the Red Queen's influence would recognize her and might be hostile towards her.

Jill realized that she needed Alice's support for whatever she would face once they arrive in Washington, but she must first repair the bond that they once had as comrades. In order to do that, she had to find the Arcadian survivors that Alice cared so much about. She couldn't help but retain some of the habits she had picked up on while under the Red Queen's control as she set her top priority.

Finding Claire Redfield.


	2. Chapter 2

**CH 02**

Jill held the little girl's hand as she eyed the guards cautiously. She inwardly groaned in annoyance when she can't do anything to hide her cleavage since her purple outfit lack a zipper to close it. She would find a new set of clothes and get rid of her current one. One of them, a man in suit who was standing directly in front of the door where Alice went in, have been staring at her chest, either he was studying the puncture wounds or just generally being a pervert. Still, she didn't like the attention.

Ada and Leon were leaning on the wall across her and Becky, Leon is currently gazing somewhat longingly at the attractive Chinese woman while she was talking to a man in a military uniform.

After asking a few questions from the woman who was sitting behind a desk next to the door, Jill wasn't expecting that Becky would run to her side instead of Ada's. She wondered if it was because Alice told her that Jill is a friend or because she had no one else to go to when Ada and Leon are quite preoccupied to notice her. Jill hoped that it was the former.

She felt the small hand clutch around her own tighter when the walls shook yet again accompanied by a loud rumble. Her heart broke when hearing the small whimper, Jill wanted to ease her anxiety but she didn't know how. The noise from the ongoing battle outside is added with the insistent and urgent chatter among the people inside the building. She settled for running a hand down Becky's bushy hair, hoping that it would soothe her. As she tucked Becky's hair behind an ear, she noticed the hearing aid.

Jill knelt in one knee in front of the girl and said, "Hey." When blue eyes locked into her own, she continued, "You can turn them off if you want," Jill gestured to her ears, hoping the girl would understand, "It's less scary that way." She smiled when Becky nodded and reached to her ears to turn off the devices.

When the walls shook again, she gave Becky another reassuring smile and squeezed her hands gently. Then she heard someone humming an unfamiliar tune accompanied by a set of footsteps coming from the end of a hallway. Jill turned her head to see a figure dressed in a black long coat, similar to what the Umbrella's commandos in the Russian facility wore, walking towards the group with a noticeable limp.

As the person approached closer, Jill could make out the words that they are muttering, or perhaps singing off-key, "_...a place where eternally..._" A few steps closer she could make out the features under the poor lighting in the hallway, "_Fire is applied to the body..._" Jill stood up from her previous kneeling position and stepped in front of Becky to partially hide her from the stranger as they continued with another verse from a song she couldn't recall, "_Teeth are extruded and..._" The voice was distinctively feminine, and the person lazily saluted at the people that she passed by as they only nodded in return. "_Bones are ground..._" Jill heard one of the guards huff out in barely hidden annoyance as the person came closer to them, "_Then baked into cakes which are..._" The stranger stopped and stared at Ada, ignoring that Leon stepped in front of her just as what Jill did earlier to shield Becky, "Oh, hello."

Ada rolled her eyes, perhaps at Leon's attempted chivalry or the stranger's presence, and gave a small smile, "I'm glad to see that you have fully recovered." Leon doesn't seem to share Ada's friendliness towards the stranger and he visibly clenched his jaw.

Jill studied the stranger closely as she tilted her head to one side and responded eerily, "Hmmmm... Yes." The stranger had a dark short hair with a long fringe and shaved sides, she was shorter than Ada Wong, made even shorter because of her poor posture. Her eyes were obscured from anyone's view because of the fringe. When the stranger turned to face Jill, the blonde put her arm protectively around Becky in attempt to hide her from the stranger's view, Alice trusted her to keep the little girl safe and Jill won't let her friend down. The shorter woman gave her a tight lipped smile and Jill only frowned, "A child..." The blonde tensed a little as she continued, her voice eerily hollow, "Lovely..."

Jill readied herself to strike when the stranger made a move to reach something into her long coat. Ada must have noticed Jill's unease and she spoke, "She's harmless, Agent Valentine. This is..." There was a pause, as if she was contemplating what the stranger wanted to be called, "Hatta."

The said agent pulled out a long thin object from her coat and made a small curtsy. Jill realized that she was holding a flute, a tin whistle to be exact, having a polished golden stem with six holes and a green plastic mouthpiece. Hatta craned her neck to get a better view of what Jill was hiding behind her, even though she already knew, and held the flute's mouthpiece before her lips before humming strangely again, "Hmmmm... Yes."

She played the same unfamiliar tune from earlier and limped away from the group. Jill knit her brows as she examined the white and red logo at the back of Hatta's coat. If the dark-haired woman used to work for Umbrella, she should have been in a better physical condition despite the limp. Though there are chances that she is just a mere civilian wearing a long coat with Umbrella's logo on it and had nothing to do with the company.

"Just don't provoke her," Jill heard the Chinese woman say in her usual matter-of-fact tone, "or give her a reason to act in self-defense."

The tune from the flute stopped and Hatta turned around and looked at Jill, then her head tilted downwards like she was looking at Becky, it was hard to tell because the blonde can't see her eyes, "Hmmmm... Aren't children supposed to follow the pied piper?" The ends of her mouth went down in a frown, "Yes... No?" With that, she resumed limping away as she continued to play the flute, the music resounding in the hallway with the walls shaking and noise rumbling from the outside.

Jill released a breath that she was holding as the music faded and checked on Becky, she hoped she wasn't disturbed by Hatta's strange actions. The girl only wore a confused expressed, she looked up at Jill and signed, "Was that a boy?"

Jill wasn't expecting that and she heard Ada chuckling beside Leon as the man muttered, "Fucking weird..."

The blonde was glad that Becky wasn't facing Leon so she was unable to read the curse word from his lips. Jill shook her head at Becky and made sure she spoke slowly so the girl could understand her, "No, that was a girl. Her name is Hatta."

"Like the Hatter from Alice in Wonderland?" The girl replied. Jill pondered at that thought and she wondered if Hatta is the stranger's real name. It's not uncommon for people to change their names when the world ended and she remembered a certain young blonde from a convoy that she once stayed with before she was captured by Umbrella.

She nodded at Becky, "Yes, Becky. Just like the Hatter."

"But the Hatter is a boy," the little girl spoke while signing, "Why does she want a boy name?" Jill smiled at her childish curiosity and she's glad that she could distract Becky from what's happening around them and outside the walls. She had seen the flying creatures and she was worried if one of those could reach into the compound.

"Well, anyone can have any name that they want, whether if it's a boy's name or a girl's name. Sometimes, if one person doesn't like their name, they can change it to their preference. Do you like your name, Becky?"

The little girl nodded, "I love my name, mommy gave it to me." A shadow crossed her young face for a moment and if Jill wasn't paying attention, she would have missed it. The blonde was busy chastising herself inwardly for reminding Becky of her dead real mother and didn't noticed the door opened.

She looked up when a smooth masculine voice, laced with arrogant confidence, spoke, "Glad to have you back, Agent Valentine." Those were the same words that Alice said to her a few hours ago, but the meaning behind them were entirely different.

Jill resisted the urge to sneer at Wesker as he passed by, then her eyes searched for Alice, who is is not far behind him and seem to have a renewed energy around her. As soon as the brunette stepped out from the room, Becky left Jill's side to wrap her small arms around the older woman's waist. Jill noticed Alice's reluctance as she returned the embrace, it was as if something changed within her, her eyes no longer held the same fatigue that she carried since Russia, but it was replaced by a different kind of fatigue, they were haunted and a little less... human.

Wesker heard scuffle of small feet behind him and looked over his shoulder to see Becky beside Alice. Alice tensed at his gaze towards the little girl and she used her body to hide her, Jill wasn't far behind and stepped in front of Becky as well. With their close proximity, Jill could definitely feel a different kind of aura emanating from the brunette.

The man in front of them only smirked and said, "I'm not surprised that you have a soft spot for children, Project Alice. Even though it usually ends up badly." Alice growled, but Wesker chose to ignore it and drawled charmingly, laced with barely hidden arrogance underneath it, "Perhaps you would prefer to meet your old friends first..." He looked Alice, "Just to boost your... morale," then at Jill and his smirk grew, "before I'll brief you two for your next mission."

He motioned for Ada to take the lead as he went back inside his office without another word. Ada waited for the two women to relax their stance before saying, "This way."

They arrived at what seems to be a make shift indoor recreation area. The room was filled with people. Some adults were playing a game of chess or cards and there are children who are running around playing tag. There were tables and chairs around and the lighting wasn't as poor as the ones in the corridors.

Alice felt her stomach drop from the sight. These people are under her protection now, with the powers slowly growing inside of her, she knows that she's responsible for their safety. She looked over at Jill, her face was blank but her eyes were darting from one person to another in the room.

The brunette walked around the room, with Becky close to her side and Jill trailing behind, looking for any familiar faces. Ada only stood at the entrance and Leon was nowhere to be seen, maybe he went to join the soldiers outside. The farther she went inside, the more people stopped what they were doing and stared at the two women with strange attires. Alice didn't care, she needed to find the person she was looking for.

"You..."

Alice heard a familiar voice and her heart skipped a beat, but the tell-tale sound of a gun's safety catch being taken off made her think twice if it was a friend or a foe. There was a sharp intake of breath behind her and the room grew quieter than before. The brunette turned around to see Jill with her arms up in the air and the barrel of a handgun on the side of her head. The blonde still had a blank expression on her face, she doesn't seem to be surprised that someone would do this to her.

The brunette realized that the owner of the gun is a familiar young blonde teenager. She inwardly breathed a sigh of relief seeing her alive and well, but she had to call her attention first to put the gun away before Jill would find a reason to snap her neck in two seconds flat. Behind them, Ada could be seen approaching them.

"K-Mart?"

The blonde in question only glanced at her but made no effort to put the gun away from Jill's head, "Hey, Alice."

"K-Mart, put the gun down. She's no longer under the control of Umbrella, she's a friend now." Alice said slowly but it only made the teen pushed the barrel on Jill's head more forcefully.

"Friend? Last time I checked, she was raining bullets on us, Alice. She took you and Claire away shortly after I remembered why you two meant so much to me." K-Mart said in an even tone without leaving her eyes on the blonde, "I may not have all of my memories back yet, but I don't think I could recall this one as a friend. With or without Umbrella's control."

Jill only chuckled and said, "Well, if you wait a bit longer, maybe you'll remember the friendlier version of me..." She turned her head towards the teen, the gun now on her forehead, "Dahlia."

K-Mart blinked and faltered, "What did you just call me?" That was all the distraction Jill needed to knock the gun out of her hand and the discarded weapon when flying up in the air until Ada caught it effortlessly. But the older blonde wasn't finished, she caught K-Mart's wrist and twisted her arm. The teen cried out in pain and Alice had to step in to stop Jill.

The brunette grasped Jill's shoulder and said sternly, "Let her go."

Jill instantly did what she was told and released her grip on K-Mart's arm. "Sorry." But the apology was directed towards Alice instead of K-Mart. The two blondes are glaring at each other as they separated.

Alice looked around to see that the people resumed their earlier activities, but there were a handful of them who were still watching them intently, specifically at Jill. She paid them no mind as she looked at Becky. The girl was quietly watching the exchange with a confused look perpetually etched on her youthful features, Alice felt guilty for exposing her to this, the girl have been through a lot of things that children aren't supposed to witness.

Ada finally reached them and addressed the teen, "Weapons are only for those who go to the field. You're not a recruit, so I have to confiscate this."

K-Mart frowned and exclaimed, "You can't do that! Claire gave that to me."

The words fell on deaf ears as the Chinese woman handed the gun to Jill, "You can have it, Agent Valentine." Jill smirked at the glaring teen and tucked the gun on one of the empty holsters on her thigh.

Upon hearing Claire's name, hope filled Alice's being instantly like a shot of adrenaline, "Claire's here? Where is she?"

"She was on a supply mission with the others, but I don't know when she'll be back. It's been two days already." K-Mart wore a worried expression and Alice's new-found hope was replaced with dread. She can't bear to think that Claire is in danger again. It was like Fate is playing a sadistic game with her.

Before Alice could ask more questions, Ada cut in, "I think it's time to meet Wesker for the mission briefing."

Alice's feeling of dread only grew and she could feel it clawing at her insides.

* * *

_**A/N:** Hatta's song is "Hell" by Squirrel Nut Zippers._


	3. Chapter 3

**CH 03**

The dread that she was feeling earlier grew into rage after the mission briefing.

Rage that stemmed from helplessness and worry.

She threw numerous jabs and kicks at the human-shaped punching bag. If it were a real, living person, that person would already be dead half an hour ago from the abuse it received from Alice.

It was a rescue mission. Claire, Chris, and a few soldiers that went with them didn't come back, the last communication with them revealed that the osprey that they were on was attacked by infected aerial creatures. They were currently stranded in a school building and are waiting for a rescue team to retrieve them.

However, instead of sending Alice and Jill, Wesker changed his mind and have Jill with two other soldiers to retrieve them instead. The man's reason for this was to test Jill's performance on the field now that her influence from the Red Queen is gone, and that he wanted Alice to stay behind in case another infected horde would attack.

The attacks would come in waves in random intervals, usually at night which demands more use of resources like electricity since they needed to use floodlight to spot the flying creatures. Fortunately, they have solar panels to provide power. They're enough to power the lights, electronics and other necessary appliances that run in the salvaged White House, but Alice is worried when they will be _not_ enough.

Alice sent another kick to the punching bag, its base snapped under the force which sent the upper human-shape flying towards the wall, narrowly missing one of the few soldiers who were curious and brave enough to see who the "ultimate weapon" is in person. She didn't pay them any mind the moment she first entered the once deserted make-shift training room, but now she looked at the young man who was almost hit by the projectile. He visibly flinched when he realized she was looking at him and Alice tried to soften her gaze in order not the frighten him. She's not their enemy.

"Sorry about that." She spoke gently, letting them know that she's not taking out her anger out on them.

"Oh." The young man exclaimed, perhaps more surprised that Alice spoke to him than the fact that he was almost hit. He was quite pale with dainty features. "No worries, ma'am. I should have stayed out of your way."

"Please, just call me Alice." The brunette said as she studied the pale young man and his companions, a man with a mohawk, a blonde man with muscles, which are more likely only for show without the experience of real combat, and a short Hispanic woman with her hair tied up in a ponytail. Judging from their young faces, they don't seem to be experienced with combat and were likely just recruited to add to the numbers who defend the compound. "Are you all military-trained?"

The pale young man fidgeted with his hands and said,"Not really. We just joined the forces less than a week ago." His voice is as dainty as his pretty face, Alice suspected that he's not the type to engage in violence, but looks can be deceiving and Ada Wong is the testament to that.

"Well, then... That was a lovely demonstration." A smooth feminine voice spoke up and it didn't belong to anyone in front of Alice. _Speak of the devil._ The brunette turned around to see Ada Wong leaning against the door frame at one of the room's entrances, still wearing her signature red dress. "You kids are dismissed. I need to talk to our good friend here in private." The woman had a sly smirk playing in her lips.

The four recruits gave Alice and Ada a salute before exiting the room quietly.

"You wanted to talk to me?" Alice asked cautiously as the woman walked up to her, her strides steady and sure.

"Yes. Wesker wanted a report if your abilities have fully manifested yet."

Alice felt the familiar burn of anger humming inside her as her muscles clenched instinctively. She wouldn't tolerate anyone treating her like a lab experiment being checked upon, especially Wesker. She is no longer Project Alice and she would prove it.

A hand shot out to grab Ada's neck and started choking her, Alice didn't have the intention of killing her but the promise was there. The Chinese woman gasped and sputtered, clawing at the offending hand, as Alice leaned closer to her face and muttered through gritted teeth, "Listen to me and listen to me well... I may have the T-virus again thanks to him but it's still my choice when and where I will use it. Wesker has no authority over me and if you think you can just waltz in here and write a thesis about me, I will snap you like a toothpick. Understand?"

Ada nodded weakly, her face turning blue from the deprivation of oxygen, and Alice instantly released her grip before she'll fall unconscious. Ada dropped to the floor on fours and coughed uncontrollably, desperately sucking air into her lungs. Alice waited for her to calm down before continuing, "Get up."

Ada looked at her blankly, trying to read the brunette's intentions, then stood up. When Alice threw a punch, she was ready this time.

The Chinese woman sidestepped, avoiding a hit to the face, and countered with a kick to the stomach. But Alice was faster and grabbed her leg to stop her.

Ada couldn't fight back Alice's superior strength as the brunette pulled her closer and received a blow to her stomach which knocked the air out of her. They traded a few more blows, each being parried or blocked by the other.

When Ada got a little winded by the brunette's speed and power, Alice found an opening and grabbed Ada's wrist, stopping her fist's trajectory towards her chest, and laid an uppercut to her jaw.

The brunette let the wrist in her grasp go and Ada crumpled to the floor. Alice closed her eyes to take a few deep breaths to calm herself. She didn't break a sweat, even from her earlier sparring with the punching bag. Ada, however, was a different story.

Alice looked down at Ada and frowned. She wasn't knocked out, but she was yet to get up. It was a strange sight to see the usually calm and collected woman look a little disoriented and battered, even though Alice only hit her twice. The brunette mentally noted that she isn't quite human anymore, _again_, no matter how she resented the idea, and she had to watch her own strength when being with other people.

When the other woman finally made a move to stand, Alice immediately offered her a hand and gave her a rueful smile when the Chinese woman took it somewhat begrudgingly.

She shouldn't have attacked Ada, the woman didn't do anything to deserve it since she was only following orders. But their impromptu sparring session achieved what her senseless beating to the lifeless punching bag couldn't. Her anger, especially to her own helplessness about Claire's whereabouts, have lessened, but the anxiety was still there.

"You pack a mean punch." Ada said as she gingerly touched her jaw, where Alice's fist had landed, "A very mean punch." When Alice didn't say anything, she continued, "I won't tell Wesker anything, but I think this is enough to let him know what happened." She pointed at her jaw which was starting to bruise and swell. She would need a lot of ice for that.

"Is that all you came here for?" Alice asked as she readjusted her black fingerless gloves. She paused to look down at the small Umbrella logo on her chest. Her black outfit is deceptively thick enough that serves as an effective body armor, but since her powers are growing back, she thought that she wouldn't need it anymore and would look for a different change of clothes later.

"Actually, there is something else..." Ada said and paused for a moment to ponder on what she is about to say next, "But I think I'll just postpone it for another time."

"Is it important?"

When Ada didn't answer immediately, Alice looked up to study her face. Her lips pursed together in a thoughtful expression, and her brows were knit together. She swallowed visibly before speaking, "It's personal."

Alice frowned at the statement and wondered what the other woman meant. Ada turned around to head for the exit, leaving the brunette alone in the training room once again.

A thought that Ada may not be entirely loyal to Wesker crossed Alice's mind, she remembered that the agent have been working for him before Alice was promoted as the Head of Security in the Hive. If Ada is getting tired of Wesker's schemes, she didn't show it and according to Leon's words while they were in the Russian facility, Ada always had a plan.

Alice shook those thoughts away as she remembered that it has been two hours since Jill has taken off to find Claire and Chris. She hoped that the mission would go well.

_**-xxx-**_

"We're ready to land in ten minutes, Agent Valentine." One of the pilots informed her through her headset. She didn't bother to respond as she double checked her weapons.

Fortunately, the sun has already risen up and they only came across a few of those flying creatures which the pilots and Jill were quick to shoot down.

Jill has traded her purple battle suit with a blue quarter-sleeved tactical shirt, cargo pants and a pair of combat boots. She had grabbed a military cap in the last-minute to partially hide her face, doubting that Claire and Chris would be friendly upon seeing her.

She was the one who led Umbrella soldiers to attack Arcadia, albeit under the Red Queen's control, so the survivors from the Arcadia has the reason to be hostile towards her. After being freed from the scarab, K-Mart was the first person to point a gun to her and she certainly won't be the last.

Jill went to the cockpit and surveyed the scene before them. They were nearing at an elementary school building with undead surrounding it. An abandoned osprey could be seen a few blocks away from the building, clearly damaged. There were people at the rooftop, presumably the Redfield siblings and the others. The undead weren't able to reach them since they were kept at bay by the school's fence, but Jill frowned at the presence of two giant axemen.

One of them was purposely trying climb over the fence and the other was still several blocks away, dragging its giant axe behind him. Her eyes narrowed when the second axeman turned around to face the nearing Huey helicopter.

"Open fire." Jill commanded.

Before the bullets reached the giant, it already swung its axe towards them. One of pilots cursed as they maneuvered the helicopter as fast as they can to avoid the speeding projectile. Jill was quick enough to grab on to something when they aircraft swerved to the left.

The giant was still standing, though weaponless, and it went to the nearest car to pick it up. The occupants of the helicopter anticipated what its about to do and the pilot fired again to stop it. When the bullets rained on the giant, some of them hit the car's gas tank and it exploded, instantly killing the giant.

"Good job, boys." The blonde said approvingly. "Kill the other guy before he notices us."

As they neared the school building, they fired at the axeman and the nearest swarm of undead. Fortunately, the fence is still intact, but very damaged. If the survivors were stuck here for two days, they're very lucky that the fence kept the undead at bay. But it seems that the luck would be soon over when the fence would finally give up.

When the helicopter finally landed on the rooftop, Jill exited the helicopter to help the survivors load whatever supplies the survivors have salvaged. She inwardly sighed in relief when she saw none other than Claire Redfield at the head of the group as she approached them. Chris was at her side, carrying duffel bags just like some of the soldiers behind them.

However, Jill stopped when Claire aimed a rifle at her.

"Wait." The redhead commanded the men behind her and then addressed Jill. "Let me see your face."

Jill took off her cap and faced the siblings. Chris smiled in recognition, but Claire was narrowing her eyes in suspicion. "I'm not under Umbrella's control anymore. It's me, Jill Valentine."

"Of course I know who you are." Claire said evenly, gun still pointing at her, "Just prove it."

Jill sighed and briefly held both of her hands up before pulling down the zipper of her tactical shirt, when Chris saw what she's about to do, he respectfully turned his eyes away. The blonde pulled down her shirt slightly, exposing her upper chest, showing Claire the puncture marks that the scarab left.

Upon seeing this, Claire immediately pulled her gun away from the blonde and muttered, "Well, congratulations." She just brushed past the blonde after gesturing for the five soldiers follow her.

As Jill put her cap back on and zipped up her shirt, she turned to follow the group towards the helicopter, Chris came up beside her and clapped a hand to her back, "She's just pissed that I won the bet."

Jill frowned, "What did you two bet on?"

Chris shrugged, "Well, Claire got this belief that Alice would always come and save her... Not that I don't believe her. Alice practically saved our asses back in L.A."

The blonde smirked, she herself firmly believed that, too. Except that today won't be the day when Alice would come into their aid. "Wesker wanted Alice to stay behind."

The man nodded then opened his mouth to say something, but he didn't have the chance to voice his thoughts when the building suddenly shook a little and a growl could be heard below them.

"Fuck." Jill rushed to the edge of the rooftop to see the giant climbing up. She fired her semi-automatic rifle at the giant's head, but the bullets didn't hinder the giant as it neared towards the top.

Chris and Claire, with three other soldiers, were on her side the next second as they fired at the giant. Most of the bullets tore through the muscles in its hands and forearms, rendering them useless. This time, they were successful in keeping the giant off the building as it fell on its back with a loud thud.

There is a chance that the giant might stand up again. If it would, at least it can't lift its axe with its shredded hands and throw it at them.

"Let's get out of here." Claire said as she swung her rifle to her back.


	4. Chapter 4

**CH 04**

It took her a minute to realize that Wesker has teamed her up with inexperienced recruits, with the exception of the two osprey pilots and her brother, when a horde of undead were chasing them after filling the duffel bags with medical supplies and canned food.

They lost five fresh-faced recruits.

Two of them were killed by friendly fire coming from the equally fresh-faced recruits guarding the osprey.

When they boarded the osprey, Claire thought it couldn't get any worse until the winged creatures attacked them while they were around a hundred feet from the ground.

They lost the pilots and four more recruits from the crash.

If Wesker had a plan to kill her and her brother, maybe it was by sending them to a moderately populated area with inexperienced recruits dressed as military-trained soldiers at their side to catch them off-guard and lessen their chances of survival.

But Claire have been through worse than this and maybe Wesker had something else in mind. She couldn't be so sure, the man is always scheming. She couldn't trust him entirely, despite the fact that he's leading the Resistance against Umbrella now.

When they evacuated themselves to the nearby school building, after killing the undead residing there, Chris radioed the White House about their situation and it was Wesker himself who answered them. He told them he couldn't spare sending a rescue team since they were under attack by a large undead horde at that time.

The next day would be when a team is sent to Umbrella Prime to retrieve Alice.

Claire was supposed to be part of that team.

The thought of being stuck in one place, helpless with no guarantee when a rescue team would arrive and no knowledge on how the team in Russia is doing, whether if they have found Alice or not, only served to frustrate the redhead even more.

She took most of her anger out on the undead, by bashing their heads with a machete while being behind the safety of the fence, and on the recruits, by yelling at how pathetic and useless they are. Chris was calm throughout her outbursts though, amused even, seeing that his sister's fiery temper is a definite sign that she's fully recovered from the scarab's side effects.

The next day, the undead gathering outside grew in numbers. Fortunately, the tall fence kept them at bay, though the survivors still had to keep an eye on them from the rooftop as a precaution.

When darkness falls, they had to retreat indoors to keep away from the winged creatures. One of the recruits had the misfortune of being grabbed by one and it flew to the air before Chris fired his rifle at it. The creature fell, taking the recruit with it, down to the undead crowd outside the fence.

At that night, somewhere after midnight, Wesker contacted them again, informing them that a rescue team would arrive in the morning. Claire had the audacity to shout profanities at him through the radio after he calmly advised them to stay alive as if it was an easy feat to do while being surrounded by the undead.

Chris had to pull the device away from her reach to stop her verbal abuse to the radio, which Wesker possibly had already muted it from the other line. The redhead only stomped away angrily, throwing a few insults at the half-asleep recruits along the way, fully waking them in the process, and muttering about how she wished Alice was here.

Everyone was tired and quite paranoid about the undead outside the fence. Food wasn't much of a problem, since they ate whatever food they have acquired from their supply mission. However, with the constant threat outside the walls, they needed to be alert.

The Redfield siblings decided to bet on who will be coming for them in the morning. The winner would get to sleep on the only actual bed in their quarters. Claire insisted that Alice would be a part of the rescue team, Chris wagered that Alice won't be with them.

Chris knew that he has more chance at winning the bet, he took advantage of his sister's admiration towards Alice. He shouldn't have done it but he wanted to sleep on the coveted bed, he never got the chance to because Claire have been hogging it since they first joined the Resistance. Claire deserved it back then, she was still amnesiac at that time and she's his little sister. But now, Chris wanted to lie on something comfortable with an actual mattress instead of sleeping on the hard floor with a thin sleeping bag.

When the sun began to peak from the horizon, the group went to the rooftop and made a quick work of killing a few winged creatures who took residence there. Fortunately, no recruit was hurt during their encounter with the creatures.

But their luck wasn't enough.

Claire spotted a familiar hulking form through the binoculars, it was carrying an axe and its head covered by a cloth sack. She instinctively shuddered, remembering her last encounter with an infected axeman in the prison. It it weren't for Alice's quick reflexes back then, Claire's head would have been lopped off by the giant's axe.

As Claire handed the binoculars to her brother, she informed the recruits about the incoming danger. Their wide-eyed expressions wasn't lost on her as she quickly thought of something to boost their morale. She thought about her days in the Nevada desert as a convoy leader, the people who were once under her care and the people that she cared about.

The recruits standing in front of her are under her care, but in order for all of them to survive, they needed to be brave and face whatever challenge the cruel and damaged world would throw at them. Claire told them so and watched in grim satisfaction as the recruits schooled their expressions almost akin to bravery. Almost. Fear was still evident in their eyes.

The giant was still blocks away, but its determined march towards the school building signaled everyone about the inevitable. As the giant neared the fence, the redhead gave orders to attack. However, the recruits' aim were terrible and with the great distance between them and the giant, their bullets, even with Claire's and Chris', proved to be nothing but a nuisance to the giant.

Claire wouldn't risk them getting too close, she learned the hard way that the giant can be fast when it needed to be.

The redhead leader ordered them to fire again as the giant lifted its axe and let out loud growl in annoyance. The bullets didn't seem to faze it as it hooked the head of its axe at the top of the fence then pulled his body upwards, using its axe as a leverage to climb over the fence.

Claire heard her brother curse loudly as she herself froze for a moment at the realization that the axeman is about to bypass the obstacle between the undead and the living.

One of the recruits shouted and pointed to the sky after pulling the binoculars from his face. The others already knew what it was judging from the faint sound of blades slicing through the air.

Everyone felt a strong sense of hope and Claire used this moment to fire at the giant again, hoping the bullets would slow it down or weaken it, so the rescue team could finish it off themselves. Chris followed his sister's example after ordering the recruits to gather the supplies they had to make a quick exit when the helicopter lands.

The distant sound of guns fired was heard, then an explosion could be seen several blocks away. When the shape of a Huey helicopter finally neared towards the school building, the recruits cheered in sheer relief. The Redfield siblings didn't join them until the helicopter fired at the axeman at the fence and it fell along with other unlucky undead near its proximity.

As the helicopter was about to land, Chris joined the others to gather the supplies and load them to the aircraft. Claire chose to stand watch to see who would come out from the helicopter, a part of her expecting to see a certain brunette with blue eyes.

When a familiar figure hopped out of the helicopter, Claire noticed the equally familiar stride, already knowing it wasn't the person she wanted to see. She felt almost disappointed seeing blonde hair sticking out from the cap that the person was wearing. The cap's brim hid most of her facial features, but Claire had a suspicion on who it was.

She raised her gun first before ordering everyone, including her brother, to stop. Claire and the other woman exchanged a few words before the blonde removed her cap to reveal a blonde Jill Valentine, apparently not under Umbrella's control anymore as she proved it after baring her upper chest. The redhead then lowered her weapon.

Remembering the bet, Claire brushed past the blonde while muttering under her breath both in disappointment and in annoyance.

When the ground shook and then a growl, signaling the giant's return, Jill rushed to the edge of the rooftop and fired at the monstrosity below them. Claire, along with the others, joined the blonde. The redhead took out her last bits of frustration from the past few days on the giant when it scaled the side of the building.

After successfully tearing the giant's hands apart with lead, they all quickly boarded the helicopter to leave for the Resistance's home base.

Claire didn't talk much during the trip, she didn't need to and she didn't want to. Chris was chatting with Jill, despite the noise from the blades slicing through air. The redhead overheard what Jill told Chris about the mission in Russia to rescue Alice. Claire would only pay attention to their conversation when Alice's name is mentioned, feeling a great sense of reassurance and relief that Alice is back and safe.

She had fully regained her memories, Claire didn't expect everything to come back to her so quickly and she wondered if it had to do with the stress she felt after experiencing Alice's absence for the second time.

She remembered the day she first met the brunette, who used to be blonde back then, Claire remembered the first physical contact she had with Alice. It was just a simple handshake. But Claire definitely felt something, though she wasn't yet ready to find out what it was exactly. All she knew was that she could trust Alice completely.

The redhead grew fond of the woman during her short time traveling with the convoy. When it was time to leave for Alaska, to the supposed Arcadia, it broke her heart to leave Alice after K-Mart asked her if she won't be coming with them. Claire understood. Alice wanted and needed to destroy Umbrella and Claire knew that she can't change Alice's decision to stay behind, no matter how much she wanted to.

That was the first time she experienced Alice's absence.

Claire felt anguished, even with K-Mart's reassurances that Alice would come back for them. The teen's optimism was her only reprieve until Umbrella operatives from Arcadia took K-Mart and the rest of the remaining convoy members away as Claire escaped, with a scarab already attached to her chest.

She blacked out then, feeling empty and with no sense of purpose.

When Alice found her, feral and amnesiac, it was back to square one. However, it was also a time of enlightenment on why she trusted the brunette so much, even if Claire couldn't remember her at first.

A deep voice interrupted Claire's deep thoughts. It was her brother calling out her name repeatedly. Chris asked what she was thinking about.

Claire only told him that she was just tired. It was partly true.

She tried to act more lethargic than she actually was, but the thought of seeing Alice again gave her a boost of energy which didn't help her charade.

She hoped that Chris would forfeit his victory from their bet and let her take the bed instead of sleeping on the floor. Unfortunately for her though, her brother wasn't affected by her acting skills and then informed her that they would be arriving at the White House soon.

She inwardly frowned at how much time have passed by while she was deep in thought, but it only doubled her excitement at seeing Alice again.

However, as the helicopter finally landed, Claire felt her confidence melt away in the last-minute.

There was a chance that her deep adoration towards Alice may be one-sided and Claire didn't want to find out yet. The pessimist within her is telling her of a possibility of rejection and a small part of her told her that she wouldn't know if she won't give it try.

Claire chose to listen to the former.

Claire may be brave to do many things. She had fought with uninfected but crazed psychotics, put lead into every undead's brain matter, dodged a giant axe thrown at her way, and many more.

But she was a coward in dealing with the affairs of the heart.

She cursed at her memories for the first time since she regained them. If she hadn't remembered about all the rejections she had experienced in high school, she wouldn't feel insecure now.

Claire felt ridiculous and angry at herself.

As she passed the last duffel bag to one of the recruits, she couldn't help but scowl at Jill who seem to be watching her intently. If Wekser ordered the blonde to spy on her, Claire had one more reason to keep her feelings for herself unless Wesker would find a way to use it to his advantage.


	5. Chapter 5

**CH 05**

After taking a quick bath and changing into clean clothes, she found Chris already snoring on the bed. Claire closed the door to the bathroom behind her and looked at the sleeping bags littered on the floor.

She still couldn't sleep, albeit being tired.

She haven't seen K-Mart yet since their arrival, she thought the teen was busy making friends with the other survivors in the Resistance. The blonde was too friendly for her own good, but Claire thought it was a very rare and precious trait especially in the world overrun with the undead.

As soon as she stepped out of the room into the corridor, she heard an excited squeal and footsteps running towards her.

"Claire!"

Before Claire could react, the teen was already attacking her with a fierce hug. With an affectionate sigh, Claire wrapped her arms around K-Mart and buried her nose into soft blonde hair.

"I was so worried about you!" K-Mart said after pulling away.

There was a girl standing behind K-Mart, quietly watching their exchange before the blonde teen looked back at her and then to Claire.

"Claire, I'd like you to meet Becky." K-Mart faced Becky and said, "Becky, this is Claire."

What Claire noticed first was the young girl's strikingly familiar features, especially her blue eyes. She wondered if she's the daughter of someone she knew, but Claire was sure that she had recovered all of her memories and she didn't recall anyone having a child around Becky's age. Then she noticed how K-Mart spoke slowly to her. K-Mart turned to her and added helpfully, "Becky's deaf, but she can read lips."

"Hello." Becky said while signing, Claire responded in kind and smiled down at her.

Becky tugged at K-Mart's arm.

"Oh, right..." K-Mart opened the door to their quarters and faced Becky, "Go ahead, it's the door on the left side." The blonde was about to follow after Becky, but then stayed behind in the corridor with Claire, leaving the door open. She glanced at Claire's questioning gaze and said, "She wanted to use the bathroom."

The redhead nodded, half-listening to the teen's explanation. Then she noticed K-Mart arching her eyebrows outwards in a slightly guilty expression, "By the way, I lost the gun..."

Claire frowned but before she could open her mouth to respond, the teen added quickly, "It was confiscated! It's not my fault!"

The redhead narrowed her eyes, she had specifically told K-Mart not to use the gun unless absolutely necessary. "I don't think it would get confiscated unless an agent saw you whipping it around." When the teen didn't looked away without responding, Claire admonished her, "K-Mart... What did you do?"

She noticed K-Mart's eyes were looking at someone behind her, so Claire turned around to see Jill Valentine quietly leaning against a wall. She inwardly groaned in annoyance.

The blonde woman isn't on a killing spree under Umbrella's command anymore, but Claire still had suspicions about her. The fact that Jill was stalking her and followed her to her quarters raised alarms in her protective instincts.

"Why are you here?" Claire muttered.

For a moment, Jill looked like she was out-of-place as she leaned away from the wall and shifting her weight alternately on each leg, before standing straight.

"She pointed a gun at me." Jill avoided Claire's question, the redhead thought that she's a little reticent about the reason why she's here and not anywhere else. "Ada Wong confiscated it and gave it to me. I would return it to you since Dahlia explained it was yours, but I think you'll just give it to her again and the cycle would just continue."

"I'm not Dahlia..." K-Mart muttered as she tried to hide herself behind Claire. The redhead would deal with K-Mart's behavior prior to the confiscation later.

"Yes, you are. You just don't remember it yet." Jill countered, her tone too smug for Claire's liking.

"You act like you don't have any memory loss problems unlike us." The redhead said accusingly.

"Improved scarab." The blonde answered without missing a beat, like she was already expecting it. "The ones from the Arcadia were outdated prototypes."

Claire scoffed and crossed her arms indifferently, her eyes narrowing. "And you seem proud of it, too."

The blonde's smug expression faltered as she spoke in a hushed voice that Claire had to strain her ears to hear, "I'm not."

Just as quickly as she said those words, Jill cleared her throat and added, in an even tone, "I promised Alice to bring you back here safely. I waited for you to come out of your room in order to check if you had any injuries, superficial or not, so I could escort you to the doctor."

Claire felt her heart skip a beat from the mention of Alice's name, but then felt confused why Jill has to fuss over her. She wondered if Jill was simply lying and was only spying on her for Wesker.

"I'm fine." Claire said, "Now leave."

There was a faint sound of water flushing down on a toilet then a door slowly opening and closing, then tiny footsteps shuffling across the floor. Becky emerged from the room and closed the door as quietly as she possibly can, perhaps not to disturb Chris' sleep as she explained in a hushed voice and sign language, "Somebody was asleep, I tried to make as little noise as possible."

Claire's features softened at the little girl as she stroked her curly brown hair, "Good girl, but you didn't have to do that you know."

Becky blushed at the compliment before looking sideways, finding Jill standing across them. Claire didn't expect her to recognize Jill as the girl smiled at the blonde woman, "You're back!"

As the girl crossed the distance between them and the blonde, a part of Claire wanted to pull her back, but she didn't anyway.

Jill's eyebrows disappeared under her blonde fringe and her jaw slackened a bit in surprise. Claire was also surprised to see the girl wrapping her tiny arms around the blonde's forearm. This only served to confuse Claire more. Becky seem to know Jill. _Perhaps she is Jill's? But she doesn't look like her at all._

"Where's mommy?"

Becky's inquiry answered Claire's own internal inquiry.

"Mommy's working. But you'll see her soon." Jill said as she glanced at Claire from the corner of her eyes while keeping her mouth in Becky's view so the girl could understand what she's saying. It seem as though the words weren't only directed at Becky, but also to Claire.

Claire wanted to ask who the mother was, but her pride stopped her, the same reason she couldn't ask anyone where Alice is. If she really wanted to know, she can find out about it herself without anyone's help, even K-Mart's.

"Have you eaten lunch yet?" She heard K-Mart ask, "They got pancakes and canned fruits today."

Claire let K-Mart pull her arm to guide her. She was hoping for Jill to leave her alone, but she also doesn't want to leave Becky alone with Jill. It was quite a dilemma for her, so she doesn't know she should be relieved or annoyed when she looked back and saw Jill quietly following them with Becky at her side, holding her hand.

"Oh, you're still here?" The redhead said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Jill raised a brow at her, "I just wanted to make sure Becky is eating and adjusting well, given that she's in an environment which she is isn't familiar with." She glanced at the young blonde who was carefully ignoring her as she led Claire to the mess hall, "It seems that Dahlia's doing a good job as a babysitter. I should thank her."

Claire isn't sure if Jill is calling K-Mart by her real name on purpose, but it seem to have an irked reaction from the blonde.

"For fuck's sake! I'm not Dahlia!"

It was a good thing that Becky was deaf, but Claire still doesn't approve of K-Mart's choice of words. "K-Mart! Watch your language, young lady."

"Dahlia is a lady?" Jill chuckled behind them.

This only made K-Mart groan in annoyance, but chose not to answer Jill's remark.

Claire thought that their little exchange was amusing. Either K-Mart is just outright denying her real name or her memories weren't fully recovered yet.

She didn't tell K-Mart about her past unless the teen would ask since Claire wanted her to discover it herself at her own time, just like what Alice did when Claire was still suffering from the side effects of the scarab.

The redhead inwardly smiled when she thought about Alice's protectiveness over her. The brunette have gone unimaginable lengths to find her again, and even stopped her from doing a mistake of breaking Chris' arm.

The mess hall was filled with people, but it was still early before lunch time so there were several tables that weren't occupied yet. K-Mart led Claire, followed by Jill and Becky, to an empty table at the far right side of the hall and asked what Claire wanted to eat.

Claire glanced at the fairly long line of people leading up to the front of the hall where the food was served. She's too tired to stand in a queue and was grateful that K-Mart volunteered to do it. She told K-Mart to get her anything that resembles food and the teen nodded then walked away from the table to stand behind the line.

Becky sat across the redhead, smiling at her while doing so. Jill seem to hesitate at first before sitting down beside the little girl. The blonde tapped at the girl's shoulder to get her attention and when Becky is facing her, Jill asked, "Is there anything you want to eat?"

Becky shook her head no, "I'm not eating until I see mommy first."

Jill's brows shot up, "But..." The blonde seem to be at a loss for words and she glanced at Claire, hoping that she would help in any way.

Claire decided to just sit there and watch Jill looking a little out-of-place again. After a pause, the blonde finally said, "Don't you want to grow strong like your mommy?"

This made Becky reconsider and purse her lips in a thought, then nodded. "Okay. I want some pancakes, please."

"Good girl." Jill smiled as she patted the girl's head affectionately. She looked up to see a man making his way to the end of the queue behind K-Mart.

The blonde hurriedly stood up and went to stand behind the blonde teen before the man could, her physical training and honed reflexes at her advantage as she made it not obvious that she was doing it on purpose.

The teen groaned when she realized Jill was standing behind her.

"Go away." She grumbled.

Jill chuckled at the teen and said, "Well, aren't you adorable."

K-Mart glared at her.

Jill smiled innocently in return.

If looks could kill, Jill would only have a few scratches and maybe a broken nail or two. She have seen much more threatening looks than the one K-Mart is giving her now.

Claire was watching them, though she still can't fully trust Jill being around, the sight before her was quite entertaining. It was rare for K-Mart to be aggravated by anyone, she was always friendly and happy around people.

She felt someone gently tapping on her arm and turned her attention to Becky.

The girl signed while speaking, "Jill is not a bad person."

Claire was a little surprised at the girl's declaration and failed to form a response, then Becky added, "It's not her fault that she did bad things. Mommy told me that she's a good person now."

When K-Mart returned with a tray of food for the both of them, she spared a glance over her shoulder, seeing Jill still at the serving area, before sitting beside Claire. She leaned sideways towards the redhead and whispered conspiratorially, "Claire, Jill is creepy."

Claire raised a brow at the teen.

Then Becky interjected with an adorable frown, "She's not creepy. She's misunderstood."

Claire raised both brows at Becky's another defense for Jill, K-Mart only bowed her head a little in shame at being corrected by an insightful child.

"Who's creepy and misunderstood?" Jill asked. Becky didn't hear her, but only noticed the blonde's presence when Jill slid a plate of pancakes and a glass of orange juice in front of her. The girl said her thanks to Jill before grabbing her fork to eat.

When no one answered Jill's inquiry, the blonde just awkwardly nodded to no one but herself.

Claire discreetly observed Jill eating her food in uncomfortable silence. The blonde looked like she wanted to be somewhere else, but for whatever reason or perhaps a sense of duty that Claire still couldn't understand, Jill spent lunch with two people who don't trust her and only had a child to stand up for her.

Perhaps Jill is either confused or just following orders, whom Claire suspected was Wesker's.


	6. Chapter 6

**CH 06**

Alice sent another blast to push the undead swarm away from the defensive walls and the tower she was on, killing most of them while doing so as the scent of death and decay filled the late morning air. The brunette have spent her morning in the walls, helping the soldiers fight against the first wave of undead for the day.

Even though she can use her superhuman and psionic abilities with more ease than ever before, she still have limitations. Sending powerful telekinetic blasts three times in a row would leave her drained and she would need at least several minutes to let her superior healing take over.

The White Queen had explained to her once, in the Nevada facility, that if it wasn't for the healing factor that come with her genetic bonding with the T-virus, Alice could suffer brain damage after performing any powerful telekinetic blast. She would get skull-ripping headaches whenever she reaches her limit before the T-virus repairs whatever damage was caused in her body and the pain would eventually fade.

"Will you boys be alright from here?" Alice turned to the soldiers, some of them staring at her in awe while some are just wide-eyed from the adrenaline. With her abilities, she had helped them successfully wipe out the Bio Organic Weapons, including the winged creatures, and the only unwelcome ones beyond the walls were the run of the mill undead.

One of the older soldiers, a dark-skinned middle-aged man, nodded at her, telling her that they got the situation under control for now and thanked her for her assistance.

After quickly assessing that they'll be fine without her, Alice dismissed herself and walked to the edge that leads inside the compound. She didn't bother to use the ladder, she instinctively knew she wouldn't need it to come down even though she used it to get on the tower's roof.

The brunette jumped forward from the edge, earning some audible gasps from anyone who witnessed. At the middle of the fall, she brought her knees upwards towards her chest then extended her legs as she neared to the ground. The balls of her feet came in contact with the damp earth before she rolled diagonally, absorbing the impact from the drop.

She stood up and dusted herself, ignoring the audience that had gathered around, and walked away unharmed. She chose to let them wonder how she survived the fall from a seventy feet tall tower, she had no time to explain herself when she remembered that she spotted a familiar Huey helicopter arriving in the compound an hour ago.

Alice didn't have the chance to find out if Jill had returned with Claire and Chris earlier, since she was preoccupied with three lickers that managed to climb over the wall.

Sand and gravel crunched under her boots as she headed to the White House. The scent of decay from the undead gradually loses its pungency as she neared the building, though it's never gone.

It would never be gone.

Not until Alice would wipe each and every infected thing that roams the face of the Earth, including Wesker and then ultimately herself.

Now that the day's first wave of undead was purged, everyone was filled with a sense of false calm. It was a quiet time, with barely hidden tension as occasional shots were fired at any infected threat that comes too close, before another chaos erupts and the cycle would continue.

It was like being in the Nevada desert again, but this time with more people and more undead. Alice sometimes thought how easy it would be to just abandon these people and let them fend for themselves from any hostilities. She was startled at how convenient it was for her to be selfish. Her superhuman abilities enable her to survive in this damned world without anyone's help and she can abandon her responsibilities to protect the last remnants of the human race if she wanted to.

But then, she didn't anyway.

Perhaps it was the human part of her that wanted to redeem herself. Or she just wanted to continue this quest to protect the people she cared about and also honor the memory of those who were lost to the infection.

As Alice walked through the corridors – she had no idea where she would go since she was hoping to run into anyone she knew – her heightened senses caught a faint scent that made her blood hum in recognition. She stopped and looked around, a slight frown on her face.

Actually, there were two separate scents that caught her attention and none of them came from anyone passing by. It was clear to her that they came from infected blood, and with the instincts of a predator, she followed one of them.

When she found herself looking at the closed door to the office where Wesker conveniently locked himself in, she wasn't surprised. She turned away from the door and let her senses guide her to the other unwelcome scent, it wasn't as strong as Wesker's or any of the undead, but it's still recognizable as infected.

She wouldn't ignore this one. She made that fatal mistake back when she was with Claire's convoy before LJ succumbed to the infection and bit Carlos. She thought it was just the undead hidden within the nooks and cranny of Las Vegas, but she realized how wrong she was until it was too late.

When Alice turned left, she realized that she's on the hallway that leads to the lodging area of those who fight on the field like herself and Jill. Though she only made that assumption since the brunette noticed that most people who come out of their rooms in this area are either carrying guns, or wearing a military uniform, or both.

As she followed the scent, she passed by the room which she, Jill and Becky were given. She contemplated in checking their room to see if her daughter is inside, but when her infected blood hummed again she continued her search.

There were a few soldiers who somehow recognize her and gave her a nod or a salute along the way as she passed by them wordlessly, paying them no mind.

After passing by several rooms, she stopped before a door. She detected two beings inside the room, one of them is infected.

Alice didn't bother pulling out a gun or a knife because she doesn't want to alarm anyone and she can stop whatever threat resides within the room with her own powers.

Before the brunette could reach the doorknob though, the door opened by itself. A shorter woman, wearing a red blouse and a pair of tight-fitting black jeans, emerged from the room.

When the other woman noticed her presence a split second later, she swiftly moved her right arm across her body to the holster at the opposite side and pulled out a gun.

"What are you doing here?" Ada pointed the gun at Alice's chest, though Alice wasn't intimidated.

After checking that the other woman wasn't infected, Alice chose to ignore Ada and pushed the door open despite the Chinese woman's protests and empty threats of shooting her. Her blood hummed again and Alice looked around the room.

It was an ordinary room, just like hers, with two beds, one drawer and a bathroom. There were was a small window situated between the two beds, which provided ample light for the room. On the bed to the right, a person sitting on it, their back towards Alice.

She frowned at the sight of a faded Umbrella logo at the back of the person's black coat. When she stepped forward to approach the owner of the infected scent, Ada rushed in between her and the person, acting as a human barricade with a gun on her side.

Alice decided to let the woman explain herself before she would do anything. She nodded towards the person on the bed, who was slightly swaying side by side as if they were listening to music, "Who's your friend?"

Ada stared at her for a moment, as if trying to read her, when she's certain that Alice won't do anything hostile, she took one step back from the taller woman though she didn't return the gun to its holster yet.

"She calls herself Hatta these days..." Ada glanced behind her at Hatta, perhaps reassuring herself that she's still there. "She's infected just like you, but not as fortunate."

"Not as fortunate?" Alice narrowed her eyes at her, her jaw clenching in anticipation. "Is she contagious?"

"No."

Alice relaxed, "What's her story then?"

Ada pursed her lips together, quietly surveying the brunette's body language first before holstering her gun, her hand lingering on it for a second longer than necessary.

"After your escape from the Detroit facility, Wesker ordered the scientists to recreate Project Alice on another host. That was before Umbrella had the idea of cloning you. They started looking for qualified candidates who were as physically and as mentally equal as you prior to your bonding with the T-virus. Most of them were just ordinary civilians forcibly removed from their homes and taken to the lab. Some were Umbrella's top agents, handpicked by Wesker himself."

Alice frowned at the last part of Ada's speech, she couldn't trace any signs of the T-virus in her. "They experimented on you?"

Ada shook her head gently before continuing, "After several failed experiments, it was finally my turn. Just like the other agents who had the misfortune of being chosen, I don't have the luxury of choice... Until she volunteered herself as a candidate."

Ada went over to Hatta and kneeled in front of her, she sneaked a quick glance back at Alice before asking Hatta, "You met Agent Prospero before, right?"

Alice visibly flinched at her old name. It felt like a lifetime ago when she last heard someone calling her that.

Hatta's shoulders shook a little as she laughed quietly to herself, she didn't respond to Ada's inquiry and chose to be absorbed in her own world. Ada sighed and shook her head before standing and then addressed the observing brunette, "How good are you with remembering names, Alice?"

"Pretty good." Alice answered tentatively.

"She was one of the rookies that you personally trained before you became Head of Security of the Hive." Ada gestured to the small woman sitting on the bed.

Alice took note of this information and went around the bed to take a good look at the slumping figure. At first glance, anyone would have mistaken her as a skinny young man, with dark short hair, shaved at the sides, and a long tuft of hair at the front which covers the eyes. The black long coat that was closed around her body was at least two sizes too big for her.

Despite having two people standing in front of her, Hatta continued to listen to her own music as she swayed side by side, humming a tune at one occasion.

Alice reached out a hand towards Hatta's face, glancing at Ada to see if it was alright to touch her, and brushed the hair to the side to get a better view of her face. It wasn't exactly a familiar face at first, but while Alice searched those dark, unseeing eyes with equally dark circles under them, she was mentally searching for a name from her memories that probably matches the person in front of her.

She looked down at Hatta's hands, they were bony, but not wrinkly like an old person's. When she noticed that Hatta stopped swaying, Alice glanced back at her face. The small woman's eyes were focused now and looking straight at her, giving her a tight-lipped smile that Alice finally recognized.

"I thought I dismissed her from the force." Alice recalled a healthier looking Hatta – her name was Vivian, if Alice's memory serves her right, a rookie who barely passed to be accepted in the ranks of Umbrella's force. She was literally the runt of the litter among the rookies that Alice had supervised, so she asked Vivian to leave before she could injure herself with a grenade.

"After the Racoon City incident, Umbrella was in a recruitment spree. She tried again, her scores were two percent below a pass, but it was marginal." Ada smiled somewhat bitterly, "I admired her persistence, so as a high-ranking officer, I gave a special instruction to enlist her in the force. When she volunteered herself in my place, I realized that her greatest strength was loyalty. I wasn't able to get to know her better though, because she wasn't the same after her exposure to the T-virus. It was almost a success."

Alice frowned and turned away from Hatta to face the Chinese woman, "Almost?"

Contagious or not, she contemplated on putting Hatta out of her misery. She doesn't seem to be suffering any physical pain as a side-effect of the virus, but it was clear to Alice that Hatta lost her sanity and memories to it. Alice knew what it was like to be subjected as an experiment by the Umbrella, and she didn't wish it on anyone to live with it, success or not.

Ada sighed, she began explaining how Hatta bonded with the virus to some extent that gave her telekinetic abilities but not enough to endow her with superior constitution. "Fortunately, she didn't mutate into a nemesis or a tyrant. But she was still impractical on the field, even with a controlling device. She was supposed to be disposed, but Wesker chose to put her in a stasis in the Arcadia."

The brunette recalled Jill's story about the ospreys after their attack on the Arcadia.

"_There were four ospreys carrying survivors and only one of them returned with us because there was something... Or someone prevented the other ospreys from not coming with us. Only one osprey that carried survivors came with us and Chris and Claire weren't on it."_

That _someone_ is most likely a telekinetic.

Alice looked at Hatta, whose eyes were glazed over again and her hands were fidgeting absent-mindedly on the buttons of her coat. What Ada spoke next confirmed her suspicion.

"Your friends are here thanks to her. It was a messy feat, but Leon and I also helped, so we pulled it off."

Alice wanted to know how they managed it. But for now, it was enough for her to know who was responsible for preventing Claire – and to an extent, Chris, K-Mart, even Luther – to experience any kind torment, which Alice had gone through, in the Russian facility.

When her infected blood hummed in recognition towards Hatta's or Vivian's similarly infected blood, Alice now associated her as a comrade instead of a threat.

Hatta then stopped fidgeting on her coat and looked up, the look on her face unexpectedly resembling sanity. Her eyes looked at Alice from head to toe and sneered, "I don't like your dominatrix costume."

Alice raised her brows in surprise at the small woman's comment about her black bodysuit, and she heard Ada cough uncomfortably behind her. "I apologize in her behalf, she sometimes have these random moments of clarity and she can be... quite outspoken."

The brunette wasn't offended, she hated the bodysuit herself. "Is that why you ditched your fancy red dress and heels?"

Hatta stood up and walked away from the bed, towards the door. Alice noticed the limp, but chose not to comment on it.

Ada didn't answer Alice's question, she only smirked gestured towards the door where Hatta is looking at them expectantly, "I think Hatta wanted to find some clothes for you."

Alice nodded and said, "Alright."

Seeing that the two women are following her, Hatta led them to a medium-sized storage room. Boxes of various sizes were stacked around the room and Hatta looked around before pointing wordlessly to a particular area on the left side of the room.

Alice said her thanks and went to that area. The boxes were filled with assorted clothing, mostly for women's. Ada chose this moment to excuse herself and Hatta, commenting about Hatta's random hunger pangs. Though Hatta lingered for a moment before the Chinese woman had to pull her out of the room.

The brunette was left alone to her own devices, the brunette picked out a few change of clothes for her and Becky. Then she found a pair of ankle length combat boots for herself, and a pair of smaller canvas shoes for Becky. She didn't know her daughter's exact size, but she hoped that the shoes and clothes that Alice picked out for her would fit.

After searching the other boxes scattered around the room, she found holsters for her weapons, a sturdy tactical belt, and a functional wristwatch. She also grabbed a small bag to put all the things she found inside before she left the storage room to head for her quarters to change.

When she emerged from her room, she wore a black v-neck shirt and a pair or black cargo pants, with ankle length combat boots. Alice didn't bother strapping her weapons on her person, since she wanted Becky to see her without any of them and give her a sense of normalcy around her mother.

Though she did tear the metal Umbrella logo from the black bodysuit and put it in her pocket, it would come in handy as an improvised weapon.

She looked at her wristwatch, she had adjusted it after seeing a clock mounted on the wall which she passed by earlier, it was already lunchtime. She wondered if Claire and the others were eating, and she remembered that Ada went to the mess hall with Hatta.

Alice was now well acquainted with Ada's human scent and Hatta's infected one. She can easily locate them with her heightened senses. It was quite scary for her to think about how quickly her powers regained, and even improved, overnight. But she pushed her fear down and concentrated on navigating through the corridors.

She found herself at the mess hall, swamped with the scent of uninfected humans and cooked food. The brunette looked around for a familiar face, but someone already found her first.

There was a little commotion somewhere to her right with a voice, unmistakably Jill's, exclaiming, "Where are you going!"

Then a small body collided with her own.

"Mommy!"

Alice's maternal instincts kicked in and she wrapped her arms around Becky. She smiled at the girl as she combed her fingers through brown curls. The girl smelled faintly smelled of pancakes. The brunette licked her lips, she couldn't remember the last time she ate. Though with the T-virus inside of her, she barely felt any hunger, but she still craved for real food.

She let the little girl pull her arm eagerly and guide her through the mess hall. The girl was apparently an expert of weaving through people as she led Alice.

"Becky! There you are! Don't run away like that. Alice would kill me if anyth–" Jill stopped in her tracks when she saw Alice trailing behind Becky. The blonde smile in relief, "I was looking for you as soon as I returned. Claire is with us. Are you hungry? I can wait in line to get you something to eat."

As soon as Jill mentioned Claire, the brunette zeroed in on a certain redhead from a distance who was catching up to them.

"Jill, have you found..." The redhead was cut off when Alice suddenly stepped in front of her and enveloped her in a protective hug. Alice couldn't help herself, seeing Claire brought an immense amount of relief to her and she didn't have to think twice about holding her close to her.

Alice grew up as a Christian, but in addition to her God, she thanked every deity from every religious beliefs she came across in her lifetime just for this moment. She breathed in Claire's unique scent, memorizing it, committing to it, not caring if she's acting creepy.

It took Claire a second to realize who was invading her personal space so swiftly, the figure was a blur to her until she felt smooth skin against her cheek and hearing that raspy voice whispering her name in barely hidden relief.

She didn't know what to do with her hands so she just held them across the other woman's back. Her heart fluttered as she breathed out the brunette's name which she learned to love since their first meeting, "Alice..."


	7. Chapter 7

**CH 07**

The training room is usually empty, very few people actually visit the room. The members of the militia would prefer to catch some sleep instead of honing their close combat skills during their free time.

Today, two people occupied the training room. The sounds of fighting could be heard by anyone who would pass by.

Alice easily evaded the flurry of blades and countered with a roundhouse kick of her own, which disarmed one of Jill's blades from her hand. The blonde was left with one weapon now but she didn't let it deter her.

Jill grunted as she charged, feigning to strike from the above and Alice bought it for a split second until she noticed the shifting of Jill's muscles. The brunette flipped herself backwards, seconds away from being decapitated.

They traded more attacks and counterattacks, Alice being weaponless and Jill with a sword to her advantage.

Alice had noticed Jill's bouts of listless depression for the past few days, though she would usually just stay close to Alice. The brunette would have to think of ways to keep Jill busy like asking her to look after Becky while she's away on the field, or keep K-Mart company – much to the annoyance of the teen.

As the days go by, it would get worse. She had caught Jill throwing up in the bathroom toilet in numerous occasions, if she would ask about it, the blonde would always answer that she's fine. Even Becky had noticed how pale Jill had become and urged her to stay in bed until she would feel better.

Jill did that, however, for only a few hours and then spent the rest of the day patrolling around the White House.

Alice wondered if this was a form of a withdrawal symptom from the drug that Jill was receiving from the scarab, to keep her docile enough to follow the Red Queen's orders.

When Alice asked Jill to have a sparring session with her, she had a plan to wear the stubborn blonde down until she's too tired and sore to stand and hopefully would get the rest she deserves. The brunette always loved a bit of challenge, so she asked the blonde to fight her with a pair of katana blades while Alice is completely unarmed, even choosing to not use her telekinesis.

Jill threw the blade at her unexpectedly – it was like the blonde wasn't thinking straight anymore – Alice instinctively manipulated its trajectory to keep it from slicing her right ear. She may have a superb healing ability, but she doesn't want to find out whether she can regenerate a lost body part or not.

Alice could literally see them coming now, Jill's attacks were more reckless and desperate. It was clear that she is getting exhausted and with each attack that Alice blocks or parries, the blonde is closer to giving up.

The attacker stopped her assault and walked backwards, her chest heaving in labored breathing and her hair sticking to her face and neck with sweat. The two women circled each other as Jill picked up a discarded katana then twirling it once with a flick of her wrist.

"Ready to give up yet, Valentine?"

"I may be feeling shit, but..." Jill shrugged her shoulders, "Nah."

Jill's tenacity, especially with her current condition, is impressive. Alice doubted if she could actually beat her in a fight without the aid of the T-virus, or perhaps they would have been equals.

As the blonde charged at her once again, Alice's senses detected a familiar presence. The alluring scent was almost calling to her and it was too tempting for her to ignore it, so she gave in and turned her head only to see a pair of observing green eyes.

Jill wasn't aware of Alice's distracted state and swung her blade, expecting her attack to be blocked again.

But nothing came to stop the contact of cold metal to warm flesh.

Alice yelped, more in surprise than in pain, her hand shot up in an instant to where the sword had cut her. Hot, red blood ran from the side of her neck down to her upper chest, staining the white shirt that she was wearing.

Jill's eyes widened in horror at what she had done, "Shit! Alice! Shit! I'm so sorry!"

"You bitch!"

Frantic footsteps resounded in the room before a fist connected to the blonde's head, the impact effectively brought her down to the floor. Claire didn't bother to see if she had knocked the blonde out and immediately turned to face Alice.

"Alice? Oh god, you're bleeding!" The redhead's hands trembled as she put additional pressure on the wound, which Alice wasn't putting much effort in, and hissed out angrily, "I'm going to murder her!"

Although the redhead's concern for her and anger towards Jill was quite unnecessary, Alice thought it was endearing. The wound was no big deal, it would completely heal in the next few minutes, depending on how deep it was. Jill, on the other hand, was lying unconscious on the floor thanks to Claire.

"I'll be alright, Claire." But her reassurance fell on deaf ears.

"I need to take you to a doctor."

Alice used her other hand to take Claire's hand from her neck, "I'm fine. See?"

She stretched out her neck for Claire to see, the bleeding had slowed but the wound was still yet to close. Claire watched in fascination, her brows slightly raised. Alice had told her that she wasn't quite human once again and also about her superior constitution. But the redhead never had the opportunity to see T-Virus' healing properties on her body this up close.

Alice wiped the blood off from Claire's hand with her shirt before doing the same with her own, then walked past her to check on Jill.

The brunette kneeled down to see if she had injured herself during her fall. Luckily, the blonde didn't fall on the katana blade that she wielded moments ago. Alice lightly tapped on her cheek to wake her up.

Jill groaned and groggily opened her eyes. When she saw Alice above her, she immediately sat up and checked for the wound that she had accidentally inflicted on the brunette. "Fuck. I'm so sorry about that."

"It's alright. Claire knocked you out, we're even." Alice smiled, jabbing her thumb behind her, pointing at Claire. "How are you feeling?"

"Worse shit." Jill said, trying to ignore the scowl Claire is giving her.

"Okay." Alice nodded slowly and then effortlessly picked Jill up, bridal style. Fortunately, Jill was too weak to protest. "Don't fight me, Valentine. I'm taking you to your bed and you're going to _actually_ sleep this time."

Behind her, Claire was fuming.

"Um..." Jill's head was throbbing in pain, but she tried to change Alice's mind and hopefully avoid Claire's wrath. "I can stand on my own."

"Yeah, Alice. Put her down."

Upon hearing the redhead's clearly unhappy tone, Alice turned her head over her shoulder to see Claire's frown. She thought she saw a hint of jealousy on her expression but just assumed it was just anger towards Jill.

"Do you want me to carry you, too?" She chuckled. It was meant to be a joke, but Claire wasn't smiling.

"No. I just want you to put her down."

Alice blinked, "Don't be like that, Claire."

"Don't be like what?" Claire crossed her arms. Her body posture is suddenly defensive, like she's hiding something.

"That."

"Um, Alice. I'm fine now, really. I can walk to the room on my own." Jill said, trying to ease the tension which was mostly coming off from Claire. If Alice noticed her apparent discomfort, she didn't show it as she turned around to walk out of the training room. Jill sneaked a glance Alice's shoulder and saw Claire following closely behind, arms still crossed and a deadly glare directed at her. She knew that the redhead hated her, but for whatever reason, she isn't sure yet.

So far, only three people are openly friendly towards her. Alice was a given, having already experienced Umbrella's mind control and was very understanding of Jill's past actions. Becky sometimes calls her "auntie Jill" and the blonde wondered if Alice told her to or it was just the girl's own choosing. Chris, being friends with her since their college days – which Claire wasn't enthusiastic to find out from her brother – was very amiable towards her.

When they reached their room, Becky was there.

Upon seeing the blood on Alice's shirt, Becky was close to tears. It was like a stab to Jill's heart, feeling guilty about the cause of the child's distress once again by injuring Alice. Though the brunette was completely healed by now, the blood was still there and the child clung to her mother as soon as Alice put Jill down on her bed.

Becky was sobbing now and Alice put her arms around the girl. The girl had her hearing aids on, so Alice doesn't have to pull her away from her embrace so she could read her lips. "Oh, don't cry..."

Claire gave Jill a look, wordlessly telling her that this was all her fault. Jill looked away in shame, she knew she would never get into Claire's good graces, and perhaps even Becky's, after what she had done. She inwardly berated herself for being so careless.

"Hey, I just had a little accident." When the girl was still unconvinced, Alice added. "Mommy's a superwoman, remember? I'm fine."

This was Alice's way of telling her daughter that she isn't quite human, the first time she told her this she was a little confused but accepted it with innocent understanding that her mother is more than capable to protect her from the bad things that lurk outside the walls.

Becky calmed down and sniffled, she turned to Jill and signed, "Are you okay?"

Realizing that the girl was addressing her, Jill looked at Becky and mustered up a smile. She nodded wordlessly before looking away, she couldn't handle seeing her upset and being the cause of it, even if it wasn't intentional. The mattress shifted under a new weight as Becky climbed on the bed to get closer to her and then surprised her by giving her a brief hug.

"Don't be sad, auntie Jill."

Alice tenderly smiled at the sight before her, partly amused by Jill's surprise and touched by Becky's forgiving nature. She brushed back Becky's brown curls and said, "I want you to look after Jill, okay?"

"Yes, mommy." Becky smiled up at her as she signed.

"Good girl." Alice bent down to kiss her forehead before she gave a half-smile to Jill, who wanted to say something but opted to just clench her jaw shut and purse her lips together in a slight pout. The brunette turned to Claire, "Can we talk?"

The redhead shrugged one shoulder, arms still crossed, and held her gaze at Alice for a second longer than necessary before responding. "Sure."

Alice gestured for her to go outside then followed her. She closed the door behind her but not before she caught a glimpse of Becky helping Jill remove one of her boots while the blonde tried untie the laces of the other one. With the brunette's superior hearing, she could still hear their conversation going on inside.

"It's okay, Becky. I can do it myself."

"No. I'm helping you because mommy told me to babysit you."

"You're not babysitting me."

"Mommy!" Becky called. The girl knew Alice wasn't too far away to hear her.

"Okay, okay! You're babysitting me. Jeez..."

Claire was smirking now. It seems that with the thin walls, she also could her them, though not a clearly as Alice could. She finally uncrossed her arms and put her hands in her pockets. Her eyes met Alice's and she tilted her head to the side.

"You want to talk?"

Alice sniffed surreptitiously, making a last-minute check if anyone was close enough to eavesdrop. She led Claire farther away from the room, so there won't be any chance of Becky or Jill overhearing them. "You need to cut Jill some slack."

The redhead frowned, "Excuse me?"

"Look, Claire..." Alice sighed, she knew how stubborn the redhead can be. "I know you don't like her. But – "

"Of course I don't like her, she tried to kill you!" Claire raised her voice a little, clearly unimpressed that the brunette is defending Jill.

"It was an accident and I got careless anyway."

Claire scoffed, "She almost cut your head off."

"And you knocked her out." Alice said calmly, she doesn't like to argue with her so tried a different approach, "Though it was unnecessary, but I think that was kinda sweet of you to do so."

It seemed to work because the redhead was quiet for a moment. She looked away as she crossed her arms once again, a faint blush on her cheeks. "Yeah, sure..."

Alice had the spontaneous urge to touch her, but she resisted it and kept her firmly on her sides. "Will you promise me to be nice to her? She's going through something and I need you to understand."

After a moment of silence, the redhead relented.

"Fine." Claire sighed, "I'll try."

The brunette smiled and stepped closer to her. Claire noticed this and looked at Alice. When their eyes met, she leaned down to brush her lips against Claire's forehead and whispered, "Thank you."

She felt Claire shiver and felt a shot of satisfaction within her. When she pulled back, the redhead's blush darkened as she stammered. "You're... welcome."

Suddenly, that initial satisfaction wasn't enough. She craved for more, but didn't know how to get it. Alice wondered if this is the new side-effect of the T-Virus in her, craving to be near to an uninfected flesh as much as possible. Perhaps this is what the undead felt – if it was possible for them to have feelings – to be close to them and then consume them. But she doesn't want to devour Claire, she wanted something else. Alice wanted to preserve her uninfected state, keeping her purity unblemished. To protect. She have felt like this towards other humans in the Resistance in varying degrees, but not as strong as she felt for Claire. She was also scared of herself, she doesn't want this craving to escalate maliciously for fear of hurting the redhead.

Alice settled for running a hand through Claire's soft locks – convincing herself that this would be enough for now – and marveling at how the color of her hair beautifully contrasted her eyes. She subconsciously licked her lips when she caught Claire glancing at them.

The brunette was too wrapped up in her that she almost failed to notice another presence nearby.

There was a shuffling of feet, then she heard labored breathing followed by the occasional hiccups. Alice forced to break herself free from whatever state she was in and let reality come back to her. When she caught a whiff of the newcomer's scent she instantly knew who it was.

"K-Mart?" Claire looked behind Alice.

Alice turned around to see a very upset looking teenager. Her eyes were swollen, like she have been crying, but her expression was despondent, barely controlling the torrent of emotions inside. Her heavy breathing combined with the hiccups made small spasms on her chest and shoulders.

"Oh my god, K... What's wrong?" The redhead immediately went over to the teen to wrap her in a comforting embrace. K-Mart instantly clung to her and buried her face on her chest, she wasn't crying, but it was like she wanted to hide herself from the world. "Please, tell me what's wrong."

Alice knit her brows in concern for the teen. She haven't seen her this upset before, even back in Nevada when she told her that she won't be coming with them to Alaska.

K-Mart inhaled, before breathing out shakily. There was a long pause before she muttered a name which Claire didn't catch at first, but Alice did. The brunette's nostrils flared out in anger, instantly recognizing the unwelcomed stench that embedded itself on K-Mart, and instantly marched away to confront the bastard who made K-Mart so upset.

"What? What is it?" Claire asked the teen.

Alice instinctively growled like an angered wolf when she heard K-Mart whispered the name again with so much fear and vulnerability in her voice. The dangerous scowl on her face made anyone who saw her cower in fear and those who were weren't fast enough to get out of her way were promptly pushed aside by her telekinesis.

"Wesker."


	8. Chapter 8

**CH 08**

The man who was standing guard at the door to the office was no match for Alice. He was swiftly thrown to the side by an unseen force without warning as the brunette raised her boot against the door, giving way to her strength and was easily torn it from its hinges. She marched inside the office with determined ease and set her eyes upon the man who was calmly sitting on his makeshift throne, computer screens surrounding him almost like a barricade.

Wesker's smirk only aggravate her.

"It seems that my... newly employed messenger has done her job well."

"What did you do to her?" Alice hissed, baring her teeth as she strode over to the blonde man and grabbed him by his collar. She was a little surprised that she could lift him so easily – let alone touch him without him retaliating. She thought of snapping his neck would permanently wipe the smirk off his face.

"Nothing life-threatening, I assure you."

Alice didn't like the smarmy expression Wesker is wearing. Her pupils dilated, silently threatening him that she could do bodily harm without even lifting a finger. "Bullshit."

His expression faltered, but only for a second. "Put me down, Agent Abernathy." His crimson eyes behind the dark glasses glowed. "I have to tell you about a very important intel and then brief you for your next mission afterwards."

Alice scowled, "A mission? You hurt K-Mart just for a goddamned mission?" She chuckled bitterly, "You're an asshole."

She tossed Wesker out the window of his office, head first. The glass shattered, its fragments glittering under the late afternoon sun, as it cut through the man's face. Much to Alice's annoyance, he managed a somersault in mid-air before landing on the ground unharmed. Clouds of dust surrounded him as he stood in his full height and looked up to sneer at Alice, mocking her, as the cuts on his face healed.

The brunette glowered at him as she jumped out of the window and down to the ground outside the White House. She landed a few feet away from Wesker, gravel crunched under her boots as she marched towards him.

Wesker smirked, "I hope you realize that I'm not the one you should be fighting against, Alice."

"Oh, yeah? Well, that's a lame excuse." Alice kicked the ground, sending dust and pebbles up in the air. Her eyes dilated as she accelerated the pebbles' speed towards Wesker like bullets.

Wesker was fast, but not fast enough.

As he evaded the small, clustered projectiles, he didn't notice Alice reaching for something in her pocket. When he caught the glint of metal reflecting the sunlight, it was a little too late, even for his super speed. A piece of red and white colored metal tore though his glasses and embedded itself on his left eye.

Alice savored this moment as she watched him grunt in pain and annoyance, his arrogant expression gone. Wesker took off his glasses in one hand while the other tried to pry the Umbrella logo off from his damaged eye, but Alice wasn't finished yet. Using her psionic abilities, she dug the metal deeper into his eye cavity until it went through his skull then to his brain matter, instantly killing him, and exited through the back of his head.

The Umbrella logo floated in mid-air as Wesker fell to the ground, face first, dead. The brunette didn't move from her place as she retrieved the small piece of red and white metal with her telekinesis and wiped the blood off with her shirt before pocketing it.

People gathered at the sides, watching them from a distance, not brave enough to get too close to the action between the two not-quite-human members of the Resistance. Excited murmurs and nervous whispers could be heard while more people stopped what they were doing to witness the commotion. From what she have gathered from them, it seems that they were familiar with Wesker's superhuman abilities, in addition to her own.

Within several seconds, the blonde man rose again. His left eye had healed already, as if it wasn't mutilated moments ago.

Wesker's eyes glowed red once again and then suddenly flung his glasses towards her like a shuriken.

Alice had seen this trick before and she won't fall for it.

She caught the object in one hand and Wesker became a speeding blur, but the brunette was ready. She let out a radial blast around her, throwing Wesker up in the air before he could even touch her. He landed on his back several feet away. His black form-fitting overall ripped in numerous places from the blast, particularly in his chest area, bruises visible on the exposed skin but then they faded just as when they appeared.

The murmurs from the spectators turned into bursts of cheering towards Alice, much to Wesker's chagrin. Though the cheering quickly died down, as if they were afraid to further insult the leader of the Resistance.

The blonde man stood, dusting himself indignantly with a slightly peeved look on his face as he regarded Alice from afar.

It was Alice's turn to sneer as she casually tossed the broken glasses aside. She could happily kill him over and over again without lifting a single finger, but there was this pressing matter which Wesker unconventionally called her attention for. She chose to listen to him, for now. "You better start talking about why you wanted to see me, before I change my mind and kill you right now."

Wesker tilted his head slowly, cracking his neck with a faint audible pop and smirked. "Very well..." Despite the distance between them, he didn't bother to raise his voice since he knew very well that Alice could still hear him loud and clear. Plus, their conversation would still be quite private since the human spectators have inferior hearing capabilities. "One of the Red Queen's pawns, an old friend of yours to be exact, was carrying a dominant strain of the Plagas virus. She plays a very important role in the Red Queen's forces now since our very own Agent Valentine is on our side."

Alice knew who he was talking about, but she couldn't bring to say her name since she knew that the clone wasn't the same person whom she met in the Hive. "You meant the clone? She's dead now."

The blonde man started walking around, alternating between striding normally like a person to flashing into a blur with his inhuman speed. "Are you sure? Have you checked for a pulse? Did you see her die? Or did your _human_ body failed you before you could actually kill her?"

She wasn't intimidated by his unexpected appearances as he flickered from one place to another with each question, it only served to annoy her. She could easily blast him again if he gets too close to her. "If I say no to all of them, what are you going to do about it?"

The blonde man suddenly appeared beside her at arm's length, his eyes glowing red. "I need you to find her and bring her to me, dead or alive. Preferably dead, but that is entirely up to you."

Alice scoffed, "I don't think 'delivery girl' is in the job description for the so-called ultimate weapon."

He clicked his tongue in mock disapproval, "Now, don't be like that. I gave you back your divine right as the ultimate weapon for a... lucrative reason." The brunette didn't like the sound of his statement, he had a hidden agenda – that itself was obvious enough even without talking to him this up close. He gestured towards the White House and continued with a slimy grin, "Shall we continue this talk in my office?"

She didn't answer right away. Alice's mouth twitched and Wesker failed to notice it sooner. He was expecting her to use her telekinetic powers on him again that he failed to defend himself from an elbow attack. He staggered back with a few steps, pulling his broken nose straight which was shoved back into his skull. He growled in irritation but surprised Alice by not fighting back as he only stood there with an inscrutable look on his face.

Alice narrowed her eyes at him, wondering if the Resistance's chain of command would be negatively affected if she would kill him. Wesker, after all, is the leader of the Resistance. But she didn't know how he became one, and judging by the reaction from the crowd, he didn't seem to be their popular vote. The last time she fought him, he was the head of the Umbrella Corporation, or so she believed at that time. Did he really care about the preservation of human existence or was he only here because of his insatiable urge for control over them?

"I'll be in your office in a few hours." She said as she turned her back towards him, heading to the White House. "If you're going to rush me by touching K-Mart or anyone _at all _just to get my attention, I will tear you apart, limb by limb."

Wesker smirked but didn't say anything else to her as he turned to the gathered crowd and issued various orders with a deadly calm precision. The man, whom Alice unceremoniously tossed aside earlier at the office, rushed past her with a limp and approached Wesker. She overheard him telling Wesker about damage reports and she couldn't help but think that the blonde man's work habits were similar to when he was still the head of the Umbrella Corporation, like he was treating the Resistance as his new domain. Alice isn't sure if this was a good thing or not. Nevertheless, she doesn't like the idea of him ruling over a human population.

She would worry about that later. Right now, her priorities lie on how she would further protect her _own_ people, her family – Becky, Claire, and the others – from anyone, living, undead, or somewhere in between, like Wesker. Though it felt wrong leaving Wesker alive and breathing, Alice held onto the fact that she would kill him someday. Though that someday isn't today, not yet when the Red Queen is still out there. She had already demonstrated how formidable she is against him, so Wesker would have already figure out by now that he shouldn't try anything to make her angry since it would be counter-productive with their goal in defeating a common enemy.

_**-xxx-**_

"Jill?"

She shouldn't be waking her up, but she can't help but feel lonely, even if she's isn't entirely alone in the room.

After an hour of consoling her, Claire had left several minutes ago, told her that she needed to find Alice and promised that she would be back as soon as possible. Becky was asleep in Alice's bed, her hearing aides on the bedside table, so she wouldn't wake up from any noise since she can't hear them at all. Jill was already sound asleep since K-Mart first got in here, she had noticed an odd coloring on the side of the older blonde's slightly open mouth and her curiosity dictated her to take a closer look. But she was still a little shaken from her earlier encounter with Wesker that she stayed rooted on where she was, sitting at the edge of Alice's bed, staring at Jill's sleeping form.

An unwelcome shiver went up from her spine. She could still feel the ghosts of rough hands and smell the stale scent of the room where she was forcefully dragged in. Bile rose into her throat as she involuntarily recalled his pungent breath against her face before witnessing teethed tentacles coming out from his mouth which threatened to devour her if she doesn't keep quiet as he surreptitiously rubbed himself against her.

She shut her eyes before anymore memories would replay itself, willing them away as she dug her nails into the mattress.

"Jill?" K-Mart tried again, hoping that the older blonde would just open her eyes and look at her, then say something, _anything_. But when she opened her eyes, she was only met with a still sleeping Jill and silence.

If she was in her right mind, she wouldn't be seeking Jill's company but she was feeling a little needy that she doesn't care that the older blonde's blunt attitude, combined with her occasional sarcasm, annoys her sometimes.

The room was quiet, aside from Jill's light snoring and the faint conversations which sometimes were accompanied by heavy sets of footsteps outside, filtered by concrete walls. Jill's chest was moving up and down in slow and steady rhythm, her neck exposing a pulsating skin which K-Mart now stared at intently, wondering how it would feel against her fingertips.

Something in her mind clicked, akin to a clockwork mechanism that stopped and needed a winding, then K-Mart felt a sense of deja vu. She had done this before, watching Jill sleep, especially on cold nights when K-Mart couldn't sleep herself, when she was still a newcomer in the convoy, too paranoid in the darkness. But Jill looked a little different back then, the teen remembered that her hair color was black and shorter, and that her skin was a shade darker due to the time spent mostly in outdoors.

As her subconscious kept winding the key of her recovering memories, K-Mart released the vice grip that she had on the bed sheets and stood, her knees shaking a little from anticipation and approached the bed across her. Jill's face was turned away from her, so K-Mart had to go around the bed to kneel beside the older blonde and see her face on eye-level. Then the winding stopped and the gears turned in their own accord.

That's when K-Mart finally remembered who Jill truly was instead of Umbrella's former puppet.

_**-xxx-**_

It was Jill who first found her in that K-Mart store. The teen was emaciated and dehydrated, despite the store's abundant supplies of food and bottled water, because she was trapped in the men's restroom with no running water for days since the store was already occupied with a handful of undead who were once store clerks. When she first heard the gunshots, it was several agonizing minutes later that someone forcibly kicked the door open and that's when she first laid eyes on the former STARS officer.

Jill's fierce expression quickly turned into surprise when she wasn't greeted by an undead as she put the barrel of her rifle away from K-Mart.

"You look like shit." Were Jill's first words to her as she quickly assessed the teen for any signs of infection or bite marks. It wasn't exactly a comforting or reassuring phrase, but K-Mart welcomed it nonetheless. When the older woman asked her about her name, K-Mart didn't answer but only threw herself against the older woman in a needy hug. Jill stiffened at the contact but settled for gently patting her back, not saying anything else.

Jill then took her to the convoy leader and Claire immediately took K-Mart under her wing from the moment she laid eyes on her.

"K-Mart, unless she tells you otherwise." Jill told the redhead before walking back to the store without a backwards glance – the teen learned days later that the convoy leader and the former STARS officer don't really get along. Since then, the name stuck and the teen decided to go along with it as a sign of a new beginning of her life with the convoy, even after she confessed what her real name was months later.

Jill was right all along, her real name was Dahlia.

It also became clear to her now why she resented her real name so much – she confessed it first to the older woman before anyone else in the convoy, then days later, Jill left without a trace or a note, not even a goodbye, just when K-Mart's fondness of her grew deep, deeper than what she felt for Claire as a sister, and it only left the teen heartbroken in the end.

_**-xxx-**_

K-Mart was frowning now, gazing at Jill's peaceful face. Part of her was relieved and happy to know that Jill came back to her life again, but there was a small part of her that was angry. However, seeing the bruise on Jill's face made her let go of that anger, for now.

The teen ran the back of her knuckles gently on the side of Jill's mouth, careful not to put a hint of pressure on the bruise. But the moment her skin made contact with Jill's, the older blonde stirred in her sleep and K-Mart retracted her hand immediately as if she was burned. She wasn't sure if she woke her up or Jill just woke up on her own.

Dark blue eyes groggily opened and stared at her for a moment before blinking rapidly, surprised to suddenly see K-Mart so close. In her embarrassment from getting caught, the teen leaned away from the bed and looked away, siting on her haunches.

"I swear to god..." Jill groaned as she turned her back to K-Mart, "If Alice sent another babysitter, I'm going to stab her for real this time." She huffed and closed her eyes, waiting for sleep to come back to her but soon found out that the teen's presence only kept her awake. "Leave me alone, Dahlia."

If Jill called her by her real name to aggravate her and make her leave the room in annoyance, it didn't work because it lack the usual derisiveness and her soft tone made K-Mart look up at Jill's form. She never heard Jill say her name like that before, even back in her convoy days, and she felt a pleasant tingling sensation in her chest spreading outward. The teen tried her best to hide the smile that threatened to form when Jill turned her head to look at her over her shoulder.

The older blonde gazed at her red, puffy eyes for a moment and frowned, a hint of concern showing in her face. "Have you been crying?"

K-Mart shook her head. "No." She lied as she rubbed at her face self-consciously, "Allergies."

Jill only smirked at her response, she knew K-Mart was lying, but she won't force the teen to tell her the truth. The older blonde scooted towards the opposite side as she pulled back the covers a little, gently patting the available space on her double bed for the teen. K-Mart looked at her unblinkingly, and Jill rolled her eyes at her before turning on her side once again, breaking their eye contact, "Your choice."

When she felt the bed dip to accommodate the teen's weight, she closed her eyes and didn't bother to restrain her small smile as she felt the comforting heat of body warmth on her back. Though she couldn't help but think that the teen was a little too close as she felt her breath ghosting at the back of her neck.

Then that smile turned into a peeved expression when she recalled from her convoy days that K-Mart was a fierce cuddler in her sleep. Jill inwardly cursed as wrapped her arms around herself under the sheets as if to prepare and protect herself from the teen's infamously wandering hands.

_What have I gotten myself into..._


	9. Chapter 9

**CH 09**

Alice scanned the night sky and frowned.

It was a quiet evening, no attacks, and the only threat beyond the walls are just the regular undead.

Ever since Wesker told her about the clone infected with the dominant plagas yesterday, the waves gradually lessened both in frequency and intensity. The last wave they fought against was this morning and that was like a walk in the park for Alice.

"One licker in the north tower, the boys took care of it. Other than that, nothing." Chris came up beside her, Alice glanced at him to acknowledge his presence and the burly man added, "Any progress?"

Alice and Wesker bot agreed that she would be the one to choose who would be in the team for the mission herself as Wesker provides her with relevant information about the clone's possible whereabouts and battle plans.

She wanted to pack light in terms of manpower because she doesn't want any unnecessary casualties on her watch, but Wesker advised against it. He reasoned that the clone would be greeting her with an army of B.O.W.s and Alice would need the extra hands to level the playing field. After hours of negotiating, Alice relented on taking three teams of twenty people with Leon and Chris each leading a team of their own.

"For now, we'll just have to wait until Wesker narrows down the clone's location." The brunette rubbed at her temple to soothe the headache resulted from the heavy use of her psionic powers earlier.

She gazed at the ink black horizon only to see more of the undead swarm. For every tens of undead she eliminated, another hundreds would take their place. Alice wondered if they were the populace of Washington, DC or they were already a mix of undead from other states.

With Alice's orders, the militia only shoot at the B.O.W.s and any direct threat to save on ammunition. The regular undead are hers to kill between waves. She have used her telekinesis excessively for the past few hours and Alice wondered how much her superior constitution would keep up.

Chris stared at her intently and the brunette have been carefully ignoring his brotherly concern until now. Alice looked and him and raised a brow, "What?"

The man shrugged. "You look like you need a break."

"Well, I'm on a break now. We all are." Alice turned her gaze into the inky horizon once again, "No attacks tonight so everyone gets a break."

"No, that kind of break." Chris chuckled, "But I'm enjoying it right now, even though it's kinda unsettling especially if you know what's actually happening out there..." He watched Alice's eyes dilating once again and sighed when she sent out a blast towards the undead below. He's very grateful with Alice, her powers and her valuable contribution to the Resistance, but sometimes the strong woman doesn't seem to know her limits – even if she's even quite aware of them – and he wondered who would be around to keep an eye on her if everyone else depends on her a little too much.

"You know what..." Chris put a large hand on Alice's strong shoulder, which startled the brunette a little from the sudden contact, "You need to stop that and enjoy the rest of the evening with a drink or two." Alice looked at him with slightly narrowed eyes and he beamed at her boyishly.

"Come on... Claire got this good bottle of whiskey from our last supply run." He added convincingly.

He didn't know if it was the mention of his sister's name or the alcohol, but Alice gave in to his suggestion quicker than he expected.

The brunette nodded and said with a tone that lacked the hint of fatigue earlier, "You go ahead, I'll just do some last-minute stuff here."

"Alright, meet you at the Abervalenfield quarters then. I'm going to find Claire." Ever since Alice had asked that he, Claire and K-Mart should move in to her quarters after her fight with Wesker, Chris have been dubbing their living space as such. He didn't move in with them though, jokingly explaining that he can't handle the overabundance of estrogen in one room – which he received an unimpressed glare from his own little sister – and he bunked in with Leon Kennedy instead, whose room was located a few doors away from Alice's. "On a second thought, how about we meet up in the mess hall instead? You know, neutral territory." He chuckled at his own humor, even if Alice's mind seem to be somewhere else and not with him.

The brunette just nodded at him wordlessly before separating ways, Chris towards the stairs and Alice towards the next tower.

_****__**-xxx-**_

"Hey, Claire. Do you still have that whiskey?" He found Claire brooding in the sparsely populated mess hall with a plate of food in front of her, untouched by the looks of it. K-Mart was sitting across her, eating a bowl of unidentified soup. Chris nodded at the teen in greeting before sitting beside his younger sister who was yet to respond. He waved a hand in front of her, "Hello? Don't tell me you drank it all by yourself and now you're drunk..."

Claire gave him an irked look as she slap her brother's hand away. "Shut up, Chris. I'm thinking."

The older Redfield raised his brows and turned to the other person on the table. He gestured questioningly towards the redhead, hoping that the teen would explain in Claire's behalf, but the blonde only shrugged.

"Look, I offered Alice a drink and she seem to be looking forward to it."

The redhead whipped her head so fast to face him that he thought she killed herself from serious neck injury. Her nostrils flared and the angry scowl on her face told Chris to tread lightly as she hissed, "Are you flirting with Alice!?"

He leaned away from her, taken aback by her sudden reaction, frowned and raised his hands up chest-level, subconsciously trying to protect himself from Claire's rage.

"Uh, no... It's not like that." He said carefully just in case any wrong choice of words might set her off. He didn't think of Alice that way and he have a deep respect for the woman as a comrade and friend. "Hey, I know you care about her, but we're just having drinks as friends. You can join us if you want."

Claire wasn't convinced though and she still gave him the evil eye, so Chris looked at K-Mart for help but, once again, the teen only shrugged and continued eating her soup while keeping her eyes on the siblings with interest. With a resigned sigh, he thought of reasons why his sister could be acting this way. He knew Claire can be very possessive, but not selfish. She's very protective towards her family and friends, but not to the point that she keeps other people away from them unless they're a threat.

_Unless..._

Chris looked at his sister with a newfound understanding. Claire never told him, but he always suspected that she liked women. He had seen the way she looked at his past girlfriends back when they were still teenagers and she never mentioned anything about a boyfriend or her love life.

He scooted closer to his sister. "Claire, is there something you wanted to tell me?"

"Something like what?" The redhead retorted bitingly.

"Okay, since you won't tell me what's going on with you. Can I ask you something?"

Claire just looked away and shrugged, feigning indifference, so Chris took that as a yes. "Do you like Alice?" He watched her shoulders tensing up a little and added slowly, "Like,_ like_ her?"

K-Mart's eyebrows went up upon hearing the question. She set her spoon down and leaned slightly across the table towards the two adults with the curiosity of a gossip queen. Not that she's a gossip, but she liked having something new to talk about other than her memories.

Claire hesitated to respond as she glanced at the teen, who quickly looked down and pretended that the spoon was very interesting.

"No, it's not like that..." She lied. She chose this time to notice the cold food on her plate and grabbed her spoon and fork to stuff pieces of it into her mouth. Claire chewed slowly and carefully, setting her eyes on anywhere but her companions at the table.

Chris tried not to laugh at his sister's obvious lie and rested his elbows on the table while trying to make her a little more uncomfortable by just staring. Claire continued to eat, perhaps imagining that she's chewing his head.

Finally, the youngest of the three can't take it anymore and decided to break the silence.

"You do know that she's lying right? She's totally lying!" K-Mart squealed, much to Claire's chagrin, and ignored the redhead's death glare as she excitedly bounced on her seat.

"K-Mart... I swear to god – " The woman in question warned through gritted teeth, her left hand gripping the fork with neck-breaking force. But the teenager pretended not to hear her and Chris was grinning now as he listened to her rant.

"I totally saw the way she looked at Alice when she thinks nobody's watching. Claire is _so_ into her! Oh! And yesterday, she went all crazy territorial and punched someone in the face! You know why? Just because of being a little too close to Alice! She punched someone just for being close to her! Can you believe that?" As soon as she was done, she glanced at Claire whose face was almost as red as her hair and the blonde teen was quickly brought down from whatever high that she was in earlier. She looked at Chris with a pleading look, "I hope you got a witness protection program..."

The burly man guffawed, reaching a large hand across the table to ruffle her hair, and the teen laughed along with him. "I always wanted a little sister like you!"

When he caught Claire's indignant scowl, he cleared his throat and faced her.

"I meant..." He rolled his eyes at her, but kept the wide grin. "I always wanted _another_ little sister. Don't worry, I still love you, Claire-bear."

Claire scoffed angrily, "You know what, Chris? You can have my stupid whiskey. And you..." She turned to K-Mart and the teen whimpered even if the redhead faked a smile, "I love you, K, I really do..." She slammed her spoon and fork down with so much force she received looks from a few people in the mess hall, "But you're going to be _so_ dead."

Chris clapped a hand on his sister's back and laughed, "Oh, no... It seems you need a drink, too. How about you," He playfully messed up her hair in the same way he did with K-Mart's earlier, "join me and Alice? It would be awesome. I promise, sis." The man grinned as Claire groaned, but she didn't say anything else as she finished her meal, too overwhelmed to form a retort. Though she wasn't mad for being outed by an enthusiastic teenager, she wished that K-Mart should have been quieter, Alice might be within a hearing distance away – a very long hearing distance, in regards to her superhuman abilities.

More people started filling the mess hall as the official hour for dinner has started. K-Mart stood up, waving at a group of people around her age and was about to leave the table when the redhead stopped her, "Where the hell are you going?"

"Don't worry, it's not like I'm hanging out with a bunch of sociopaths, _mom_." The teen rolled her eyes and pointed her thumb to the group who were sitting at another table before turning around to walk away.

The redhead shook her head and sighed through her nose. Chris frowned and asked, "What was that about?"

"One of the reasons why Alice asked us to move in with her." She gave Chris a look and her brother registered it quick seconds later and nodded understandably. He didn't know the exact details though, but whenever Wesker's involved with anything, it's doomed to be a bad thing. How K-Mart was actually recovering from it, he had no idea, but all he can do for the teen is to make sure that Wesker won't be touching any of his sisters ever again.

_**-xxx-**_

"You're still here?"

The low, almost monotone voice came from behind. Alice had already detected her presence several minutes ago, but she wasn't expecting her to actually speak since it seems that she would rather play unrecognizable tunes with her flute than striking a conversation with sane people.

"I needed some quiet time to think before I'd call it a day." Alice looked over her shoulder to give the smaller woman a friendly smile but she just peered at her as the wind briefly swept her fringe away from her eyes – they were focused and sane. Her lips pulled back in a tight-lipped smile for a moment, perhaps contemplating on what she would say next.

"Is that true? Or are you getting a little too paranoid?"

It was more like a statement than a question and Alice inwardly frowned at how much truth it carried.

She was about to open her mouth to respond but stopped when she realized that she had nothing to say to explain herself, she looked at the undead swarm instead and wondered if Vivian knew about the clone with the dominant Plagas.

"Paranoid, yes?"

Alice figured that Vivian wanted her to respond in any way, so she just nodded wordlessly.

"Are you afraid?"

It sounded like an innocent question, but Alice was too proud to admit it vocally, but she didn't want to disappoint her, so she just nodded once again. She gazed intently at Vivian's impassive face, wondering what the strange woman would think of her now while she is being insightful and quite sane. Then Alice imagined if it was anyone instead of Vivian. How would they react if the "Ultimate Weapon" of the Resistance showed weakness? Would those people who knew about her past blame her for starting this mess that almost wiped out the human race?

The smaller woman flashed a toothy grin, which would have been disconcerting to somebody else but not to Alice, as she tilted her head to the side and clicked her tongue once, "Hmmm... Yes..." It was as if she can read her mind and Alice felt deflated, even though Vivian's response was more like another one of those thoughtless scrambling of hers. But she wasn't finished. "You are human but you are also more than human. Just like me. It is perfectly alright to be afraid."

That was the most words Vivian uttered in one breath and Alice thought it quite strange but it was a little encouraging.

Pointing at the undead swarm below them, Vivian pursed her lips together in concentration. Within a few moments, she lifted a handful of undead – Alice counted nine of them – in mid-air and pulled them towards the wall. The speed killed them as their skulls were crushed upon impact.

When she turned to face her, blood dribbled from her nose to her coat as she gazed at her.

"Are you alright?" Alice frowned as she stepped towards her to tend to her bleeding nose. Vivian turned her head away, however, and decided to wipe her nose with her coat's sleeve. Alice observed her as her expression faltered, blinking slowly before gasping for a breath. "Whoah... Take it easy."

The brunette immediately grabbed her by the shoulders but she realized a little too late on what's about to happen next.

Vivian sneezed.

Blood and spit splattered on Alice's face and shirt, and she scowled at her own predicament.

"Heh... Heheheheh..."

It was like a switch was turned off and Vivian's traces of sanity retreated within herself as Hatta took over. When the wind picked up again to sweep the fringe away from her dark eyes, they were glazed over and unseeing.

She continued to chuckle blithely, despite more blood trickling from her nose, as she turned around to walk away, limping while doing so. But she didn't go far though, she stopped and looked at the undead swarm below, stretching her arms towards them, acting like a child at the zoo, amused at the undead and unafraid of the danger if she leans too close.

She looked like a neglected child, with no one to entertain her but herself and the creatures around her.

Alice laughed quietly to herself, finding the morbid humor in this moment, as she wipe her face as clean as she could with the back of her hand. She looked down at her white shirt – she figured she would stop wearing white shirts if this keeps happening to her – and shook her head, amused. It was a little hard to believe that the bloody mess came from a person who barely stand five foot tall.

She went to the smaller woman, who was quiet now, gently pulling the her away from the barrier between them and swarm below. Hatta would need medical attention, she may have telekinesis just like Alice, but she has no healing powers. As Alice led her, a masculine voice emerged from the nearest tower that they were heading to.

"There you are, you little weirdo..."

It was Leon.

He stopped in his tracks when he saw the state Hatta was in and looked at Alice, frowning at the blood stains on her shirt, "She used her powers?"

"Yeah, but nobody was hurt except for some undead."

The brunette watched him hand run a hand through his blonde hair, apprehension clearly etched on his handsome features. "Alright, I'm going to take her to a doctor and I hope she won't be going into another coma." He took Hatta's arm, pulling her along with him like a child who is going to be in trouble and then muttered quietly to himself, though Alice can still hear him, "Ada is going to kill me..."

Alice accompanied them as they exit the tower then to the infirmary. Along the way, she and Leon were discussing about the eligible candidates who would join them in their mission. After hearing Claire's story about being sent to a supply run with inexperienced recruits, the brunette had assigned Leon and Chris to screen the team members to make sure they were capable of heavy combat.

Jill and Claire wanted to join them, but Alice had reasoned that they needed to stay behind in case anything might happen and to keep an eye on Wesker. Jill understood Alice's intentions, but Claire was less subservient though she didn't express it verbally.

In fact, the rest of the strongest members of the Resistance had to stay behind since the militia and their morale without Alice's presence wouldn't be enough if a wave of B.O.W.s would come and attack them unexpectedly. She hoped that with Claire's leadership skills, it would be more than enough make up for Alice's absence.

The familiar scent of antiseptics and disinfectants filled the corridor. Before they could reach to the infirmary though, Leon called over a blonde woman in a white coat, probably a doctor, who was smoking a cigarette outside a set of double doors with a large red cross sign spray painted on them.

The woman in the white coat looked like she doesn't want to be disturbed as she raised a delicate brow. She seem to know Leon. She sauntered over to them, giving Hatta a once-over before speaking a slight rasp evident in her voice, "You know, I just remembered that I used to be a law student, not a doctor..." She smirked at Leon's unimpressed look, "But I'll see what I can do." She took a drag from her cigarette, looking unhurried and relaxed, before nodding at Alice, "You look like someone had done you wrong. Do you need a band-aid or a lawyer?"

"Oh, no. I'm fine."

"Hmm, I know that voice..." The blonde narrowed her eyes at Alice, a hint of smile on her lips, "You must be _the_ Agent Alice Abernathy." She ignored the blonde man's impatient huff and continued, "I'm Quinn, one of the survivors from the Arcadia. I owe you my gratitude. If you ever need a doctor with excellent deducing skills, I'm your gal."

Quinn gave her an elegant smile, which could belong to someone high up on the social ladder during the better days, before turning around to lead Hatta to the infirmary.

As soon as the blonde woman and the patient disappeared behind the double doors, Leon turned to Alice and explained helpfully, "Not every doctors here are actually doctors... But anyone who's willing to learn are trained by medical professionals."

They parted ways as Leon went inside the infirmary and Alice heading to her quarters.

She would need to wash her face and get a clean shirt. She looked like she came out from a murder scene, and she wouldn't need a certain redhead to fuss over her once again, no matter how endearing it would be, Alice don't want to cause any unnecessary stress to her.

_**-xxx-**_

However, Claire is already stressing out, but for an entirely different reason.

"Where the fuck is that little bitch..." She muttered under her breath as she pulled the duffel bag out from under Alice's bed. It's filled with what little personal belongings she and K-Mart owned. She swore she hid the whiskey under the mattress and not in the bag, but she still checked just in case if she had just misplaced it.

The door opened and someone stepped inside the room.

Claire looked up and saw who it was. She had to keep herself from scowling at the blonde woman.

"Hey, Claire." Jill smirked as she sauntered towards her own bed, sitting on the edge, "Looking for something?"

"It's none of your business."

Jill raised both of her brows and chuckled, "Okay... Although I have to ask..." She stood up and went to the drawer beside her bed and pulled out a familiar bottle. "Is this yours?"

Claire growled and went to Jill to snatch the bottle from her hand. "Why the fuck did you – ?"

The sound of water flushing cut her off as the bathroom door opened and Becky emerged. Claire instinctively bit her tongue in guilt for cussing while a child is present, deaf or not. She didn't notice her coming in with Jill since she was too focused on the blonde.

"Becky was complaining about something poking in her back when she was taking a nap, so I took the liberty of investigating and I found that thing under the mattress." Jill explained, "I didn't have the opportunity to ask you or Alice if it belonged to either of you."

"Oh..." Was all Claire have to say and she mentally slapped herself for being less eloquent at the moment. Jill was clearly making an effort in being a decent person and she just stood there trying to find words on what to say next. She glanced at Becky, who was taking off her hearing aides and putting them in a device that was attached to an outlet to charge their batteries. The girl then went to Jill's side and tugged at her arm.

"Um, we're going to eat dinner now." Jill said, suddenly feeling awkward, "Enjoy your whiskey."

Claire stopped her before the blonde could reach to the door, "Actually, I'm going to the mess hall to share this with Alice and Chris. You can join us if you want."

Jill looked at her for a moment then smiled, "Yeah, that would be great."

"Cool." Claire said as they exited the room, "I hope you consider this as my peace-offering."

The blonde frowned, "What for?"

"For punching you yesterday." She glanced at Jill to see her eyes glazing over, "I'm sorry about that. I overreacted."

Jill smirked, "Apology accepted."

_**-xxx-**_

Alice had successfully eluded her presence from them as she slipped into her shared quarters after the two women and her daughter left the corridor. After washing her face, changing into a clean black shirt, and removing the weapons from her person, she went to the mess hall.

She didn't realize how hungry she was until the concentrated scent of humans and food greeted her and she unconsciously licked her lips before she stopped herself and frowned. The craving was there, underneath her skin and behind her eyes like it's waiting for the right prey to devour, and she suddenly felt self-conscious about the state of her infection. Alice growled angrily at herself as she bit her tongue inside her mouth until it bled, swallowing the blood as the T-virus healed the damaged.

* * *

_**A/N:** Hello. I am aware that I've been gone for more than a month. I apologize for the very late update, hence I wrote a longer-than-usual chapter. Anyway, I would like to thank you all for your reviews and I wanted to hear what you guys think about bringing back the evil Rain clone in the next few chapters. Any ideas/guesses where Alice will find her? I already got an outline for the whole story, but I like to know what you think and I might tweak it a bit.  
_

_Reviews make me update faster because it acts like a reminder for me whenever I check my e-mail every morning. Thank you for reading.  
_


	10. Chapter 10

**CH 10**

Her eyes swept the area as she looked for familiar faces, hoping that their presence would tone down the inhuman hunger that she's feeling.

When she saw Claire and the others, she immediately went to them and plopped down beside the redhead without a word, earning startled glances from the adults at the table except Becky since she already saw her mother coming. The girl left her meal and Jill's side for a moment to give Alice a kiss on the cheek.

Alice smiled tenderly at her daughter, feeling a sense of normalcy from the display of affection. When Claire gently bumped her shoulder against Alice's in greeting, the physical contact made her forget about her infected state for a while and feel a bit more human.

"Are you alright?" Claire asked and the brunette just nodded at her with a small smile. She heard Chris snickering behind his hand and the younger Redfield rolled her eyes in annoyance as she swatted him on his broad chest. "Is there something you want to say, Chris?"

Chris cleared his throat, but he couldn't hide his knowing smile from Claire. "Fancy a drink, Alice?" His voice dripped with boyish charm reserved for flirting and Claire punched him on the arm this time.

Alice raised a brow at the two siblings, she's not sure what's going on between them and Chris just laughed as he handed her a tin cup of whiskey. "Thanks." Alice said and sniffed. She sensed K-Mart's presence nearby but she doesn't want to look around, not daring to let her inhuman hunger resurface if she surveys the area full of sweet-smelling humans. But she had to ask,"Where's K?"

Jill, who seem to be watching someone from afar, nodded towards the direction where she was looking at without missing a beat. Alice turned her head a little to see K-Mart at a table not too far away from them, chatting with a group of young men and women around her age, perhaps older – Alice wasn't sure of this even though Carlos had once mentioned to her that the blonde teen was 14 or at least what he thought she was, until Alice saw K-Mart's bio in the Arcadia's log. If Umbrella knew her age, they should've displayed her real name as well in the log, but perhaps they just had an advanced device that accurately determine a person's age and other physical aspects.

After making sure that the teen isn't currently in trouble, Alice looked down at her cup as the honey-colored liquid swished around it and Alice inhaled, zeroing in on the scent of the alcohol and noted the amount of it in Claire's. She discreetly checked Chris' and Jill's, too, and they didn't have as much alcohol in their system as Claire's. She glanced at the redhead beside her and saw the slightly flushed cheeks and neck, her elevated heart rate was also audible, at least to Alice.

"You know, this doesn't actually affect me anymore..." Alice said before pouring her cup's contents down to her throat, felt the familiar burn before fading away like it never happened. She was a little disappointed by it. She sighed wearily, letting out a little confession, "I miss being drunk."

Jill smirked as she pushed back her plate, already done with her meal, and she brought her cup to her lips. "Well, I miss wearing heels."

"Video games." Chris contributed before gulping down his drink. "And getting girls' numbers."

"I'd do anything for a smoke right now." Claire drawled and she took a swig from her bottle of whiskey before hugging it like an infant. It's evident that she's the most drunk person at the table.

As the conversation kept going, the alcohol kept flowing until the last drop fell on Claire's bottom lip and ran down to her chin. Alice relished the sight. Even if she couldn't get intoxicated by the alcohol, she suddenly felt a little light-headed.

Out of instinct, she reached out to gingerly caress Claire's jaw and turn her head to face Alice while the redhead's hand found its way to grasp at the hemline of her shirt as Claire leaned closer to her. Their eyes met as Alice's thumb wiped the moisture off from the redhead's skin then bringing it to her mouth, savoring the drop of liquid on her tongue. It almost tasted like Claire, though her rational mind brushed it off as her imagination.

But even her rational mind can't deny how beautiful Claire looked when she gazed at her.

A feminine laughter broke them out from their trance and both women leaned away from each other when they realized that they were a few inches away, suddenly feeling awkward. Chris and Jill weren't paying attention to either of them though, since the blonde woman was laughing at Chris' story that has something to do about a grumpy cat. Claire looked away from Alice, breaking their eye contact and Alice just watched her burrow her brows, perhaps deep in thought, or as deep as a drunk person could get anyway.

"Mommy."

Alice turned her head to face Becky who carefully placed a plate in front of her. She didn't even notice her leave the table, the girl must have ninja traits imprinted on her, and this alarmed Alice. She didn't want Becky to be wandering around too much without adult supervision. Alice knew that she's unnecessarily being overprotective, but if the leader of the Resistance is her arch-nemesis, it's better to be safe than sorry.

"I haven't seen you eaten today, so I brought you this. It's special."

Alice doesn't need as much food as a human does, but she doesn't want to let her daughter worry about her, so she grabbed a fork to consume the offered meal.

Becky was pleased as she resumed the drawing that she was working on earlier before she left the table. The girl had picked up drawing as one of her favorite activities after Alice searched the storage rooms for pencils, crayons and a drawing book to give them to her. Becky have been carrying them around in her small satchel on her person ever since.

_**-xxx-**_

"Alright, K... It's your turn."

As much as she loves spending time with Claire, K-Mart likes to mingle with people close to her age. She longed for something normal, like drinking with friends, going to a party, getting piercings and tattoos – the things that she never experienced throughout her teenage years. She bit the inside of her cheek in thought while the Hispanic woman waited expectantly for her answer.

"Truth. Your dares are too evil."

Santana scoffed. "You're no fun, but whatever. Porcelain, go ask her a question. Make it as revealing as possible." She said as she made a flamboyant gesture with her hand towards a pale young man with big blue eyes.

"Well, since we're all getting to know each other..." Kurt cleared his throat daintily, "K-Mart, what's your, um... orientation?"

K-Mart hesitated. She wasn't expecting that question, but there's nothing for her to be ashamed about since some of the occupants at the table are confirmed to be queer – Santana, Kurt, Blaine and Brittany. K-Mart thought she could only like boys, but with her resurfacing feelings for a certain blonde woman and the memories that came with them, she thought otherwise. If she admits her new-found preference, does that mean that what she's feeling for her is real?

"Boring." Santana interrupted, sparing K-Mart the chance to speak and she was quite grateful for it. Kurt just rolled his eyes at her as the brunette flicked her hair to the side and leaned across the table to peer at K-Mart's face, searching her face for something. K-Mart didn't know what she was looking for until she realized that Santana was actually checking her out. "When was the last time you get your mack on?"

K-Mart furrowed her brows and stammered a reply, "Um... what?"

Santana threw her hands up and muttered something in Spanish.

A buff man with blonde hair – K-Mart forgot his name, but Santana have been calling him Trouty Mouth because of his lips – decided to be helpful instead of entertaining them with his impressions of famous people, "She was talking about sexy times."

"Oh..." Despite herself, she felt her cheeks warm and it wasn't because of the fact that Santana is blatantly leering at her. No, it was the fact that she heard a very familiar laugh and K-Mart directed her eyes towards its source only to catch a glimpse of a beautiful woman's smiling face. Their eyes met and a chill ran down her spine.

For a split second, that only K-Mart could see in her tunnel vision, Jill subtly pushed the tip of her tongue past her lips before hiding behind a drunken grin. Blood rushed to K-Mart's ears as she mustered all of her willpower to look away. Then her legs suddenly had a mind of their own that K-Mart stood, stammering once again, "I... I gotta gay– I mean, _go_! I gotta go... Now! Later, guys." With that, she scrambled towards the exit, mentally slapping herself in embarrassment as the blush spread to her neck.

Santana pursed her lips in a slight frown at the fleeing blonde and turned to the slack-jawed faces at the table, "Okay, I know I'm hot and all... But what was _that_?"

_**-xxx-**_

K-Mart had no destination in mind and she knew better than to wander off alone. She ended up in the rooftop, overlooking the Resistance's territory, the boundary walls and the surrounding undead beyond them. It's quieter than usual at this time of the night, a testament of the lack of attacks from the mutated undead, there weren't even any guards present, none that she noticed anyway. She wondered how long would it take for anyone to find her here, but she isn't in a hurry to return inside though. She felt insecure and she couldn't decipher what Jill thinks of her now ever since they shared a bed last night.

"Dahlia? Dammit. Wake up." K-Mart recalled Jill's guarded tone when she started to wake up with something warm wrapped around her arms. "Dahlia... K-Mart... Goddammit."

"Mrrmmm..." K-Mart muttered sleepily, not bothering to open her eyes as she snuggled closer to the warmth and her hands squeezing at something soft and pliable which she thought was a pillow. There was an intake of breath as K-Mart felt the warmth moving a little.

No, it wasn't just moving a little – it was expanding and contracting, it was breathing.

It was a person.

She heard a sigh and then Jill's voice followed, though the teen couldn't register the words with her sleep-addled mind, "Are you a boa constrictor with boob envy or something?" A warm hand tried to pry K-Mart's arm to no avail as the teen snuggled closer. "Dahlia, let me go."

K-Mart opened her eyes, only to see a mess of blonde hair. She half-heartedly moved her hands, feeling more of the pliable flesh as Jill inhaled sharply once again. When K-Mart pulled her arms to herself and Jill breathing a sigh of relief before crawling out from under the blankets, revealing that the blonde hair in front of K-Mart belonged to her.

Then it took her a few seconds to realize that she was groping Jill in her sleep and she was suddenly more awake as she sat up abruptly.

"Uh..." K-Mart felt her cheeks warm as she watched Jill sitting on the edge of the bed, her back facing K-Mart, and stretching her arms upwards with a moaned yawn. "Did I just–? Um..."

Jill was quiet for a moment. She stood, brushing her bed hair with her hands to give her long blonde locks a semblance of order before tying it up in a ponytail. She turned to look at K-Mart, her jaw set, but there was a faint blush on her cheeks that didn't escape the teen's notice. "My shift is about to start..." She said evenly as she made her side of the bed, her movements fluid and casual, "It's still too early for you though, go back to sleep."

K-Mart was expecting some form of snark and it baffled her to be treated with tenderness by the older woman. It was almost like Jill cared about her despite having her personal space invaded by a pair of wandering hands and K-Mart caught herself wishing this to be true. When Jill went to the bathroom, perhaps to wash her face or brush her teeth, K-Mart lied back down to bed, counting in her head as she heard the muffled sound of water running. It wasn't until several minutes later that Jill emerged and K-Mart pretended to be asleep to avoid any more embarrassment at her part. It was a cowardly thing to do, but she wasn't ready to look Jill in the eye at that time.

When their eyes met in the mess hall, K-Mart was a little disappointed at herself for bolting out like that. She didn't know what came over her and she dreaded the possibility that Jill was just playing with her feelings.

_**-xxx-**_

"What are you doing here? It's way past curfew, you should be inside." K-Mart turned her head to see a beautiful Chinese woman wearing a red blouse and black pants, the crossbow that she was carrying made her look more intimidating than being without it. K-mart recognized her but the woman's name eluded her. Was it Anna? Aria? She's sure it wasn't Abba either, but it was close. Then, _oh, __s__he's an agent. Ada Wong._

"Can I stay here for a while longer? I won't bother you, I promise."

Ada looked at her, assessing her with a glance, before looking at the immediate surroundings and the clear night sky. Then she shrug nonchalantly. "Suit yourself. But don't blame me when I can't save you from being snatched by a Kipepeo."

"Kipepeo?"

"Those flying nuisances. A recent mutation engineered by the Red Queen." Ada said without a backwards glance as she walked away, continuing her patrol. K-Mart gulped and regretted her earlier choices of coming here even though she heard the rumors about the mutant creatures leaving the Resistance alone for easier prey. She was too busy looking at the sky for any threats that she failed to register the scent of alcohol and the presence of someone behind her.

"Boo."

K-Mart yelped when the voice whispered in her ear and turned around to slap the offender without a second thought. Her eyes widened in surprise when she realized that she had just hit none other than Jill Valentine. Ada must have known that the blonde have been standing behind her the whole time and chose not to tell K-Mart about her presence.

Jill hissed from the stinging pain and scowled, "And here I thought you're hands were made for loving and not for hurting, little girl."

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry! I didn't know it was you." K-Mart blushed at Jill's comment but decided not to dwell on her drunken choice of words as she inspected the damage. It seems that she had hit the woman where Claire had punched her yesterday and K-Mart hissed sympathetically at how it must have hurt.

"Sure... Whatever you say." Jill drawled as she tenderly rubbed her face. "Claire sent me. Bed time for you, kid."

It was a lie, judging from the way the older woman's eyes averted for a split second and Claire never enforced a designated bed time for the teen, even in their convoy days, but K-Mart chose to believe it anyway. The context was easier for her to handle emotionally than the fact that Jill actively sought her out.

"I'm not a kid."

"Really? Aren't kids the only ones who like to snuggle with teddy bears in their sleep?" Jill snickered, not even flinching when K-Mart raised her hand threateningly.

"Shut up!" She exclaimed indignantly, hitting Jill on the arm. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, I know that you're spooked after our very friendly Agent Wong told you that scary story about those flying bastards..." A strong arm wrapped itself around K-Mart's shoulders and even though the scent of alcohol in Jill's breath was unappealing, she welcomed the warmth and the sense of security. Then Jill's tone softened, losing its mocking quality, and held the teen closer against her as she crouched down to sit on the floor, bringing K-Mart down with her, "Don't worry. You're going to be fine, Dahlia."

"Don't call me that, my name's K-Mart." The teen retorted stubbornly for normalcy's sake and Jill breathed out a laugh.

"Well, shit. I guess my name's Walmart then."

Though she secretly enjoyed their physical closeness, K-Mart wished that Jill wasn't drunk right now so that the older woman wouldn't confuse her with random affections and the usual sarcasm. Perhaps a sober Jill would be easier for her to read than an intoxicated one. Perhaps then she would figure out whether Jill is just playing with her or does actually care about her.

_**-xxx-**_

"Put me down, you big dummy."

The weight in her arms squirmed and Alice let out a long-suffering sigh. Claire sure was a handful when drunk. Literally.

"You're drunk, Claire." She said softly, a contrast to the redhead's mood, "You can't even stand straight for a second."

"Of course, I'm not straight. I can't even think straight, goddamnit!" Claire slurred as she squirmed more, kicking her legs in the air, but Alice only held her more securely within her arms which wasn't much of a feat for her. Chris snorted, muttering about a Freudian slip, and Claire managed to twist herself within Alice's hold to land a kick on her older brother's arm which caused him to topple slightly, almost dropping the folding bed which was perched on his shoulder.

When they arrived at the quarters, Alice unceremoniously dropped the feisty woman on the bed, just to see her reaction, and she chuckled at the unimpressed look Claire was giving her. Chris entered the room with Becky behind him. He unfolded the bed at Alice's side of the room then helped Becky putting on the bed sheets which she was carrying earlier. When they were done, Becky sat happily on it, testing at how soft the mattress is and beaming at the man who brought this for her.

As soon as Chris wished them good night and left, Alice leaned down in pretense to tuck a strand of Claire's hair behind a reddening ear, but only to hear her heart beat closely. She was a little frustrated that the alcohol marred with Claire's scent, but Alice takes what she can get and she's still grateful that the redhead is with her now.

Alice tucked Becky to bed then kissed her on the nose, waiting for her daughter to close her eyes before slipping into her bed with Claire. The redhead's back was facing her, but Alice could tell that she's still awake due to her shallow breathing. She rolled to her side, contemplating whether if it's alright to spoon Claire or just lay there waiting for sleep to take her.

But a loud knock on the door interrupted her internal debate.

Alice tried to suppress her groan of annoyance as she went to answer it.

What waited behind the door shook her to the core as she felt blood draining from her face and her body frozen in shock. Alice instantly recognize who it was, even with the greasy hair sticking to their face, the gray lifeless eyes and the mirthless grin showing rotten teeth. The scent of decay coming from them was mixed with sweat and sewage waste and Alice wondered how long they were dead – or more accurately, undead.

Tears prickled her eyes as her disbelief turned into fear, then fear into guilt. She uttered their name the same way she did years ago – a lifetime ago – meek and unsure, yet hoping that her friend is still in there, hoping that there's still a way to save them.

"Rain?"

The shell of a person before her answered with a bloodthirsty growl before launching towards her like a hunger-crazed animal.


	11. Chapter 11

_**A/N:**Thank you all for the reviews/faves/follows! It's nice to know that the Jill/K-Mart pairing interests you guys and that my writing is appreciated, but I got a feeling that I would disappoint you with this chapter because I wasn't satisfied with it no matter how many times I've edited it.  
_

_Also, I put **-xxx-** between scenes for convenience (thanks PrincessLia for the suggestion!), the previous chapters who have scene changes have this now._

_I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! If not, well..._

* * *

**CH 11**

"ALICE!"

Despite the piercing headache from a hangover and her body protesting from every movement she makes, Claire ignored her own physical pain to aid the distressed woman. Another miserable cry tore through the brunette's lips and Claire's heart broke to see her this vulnerable. Shouting her name won't make any difference, so she tried the physical approach as adrenaline powered her muscles into action.

Alice may be physically strong and could easily push her away, but Claire's strength is her determination and she willed herself to be as strong to save the brunette from whatever was plaguing her. Navigating her body through the dark, Claire managed to straddle her and grabbed her by the shoulders to jostle her awake, it was a difficult feat to do since Alice kept struggling against her and Claire had to grab hold fistfuls of her shirt to keep her balance.

"Wake up, Alice! Please, wake up!"

But Alice didn't wake up and now she's shoving Claire away as if she was the adversary in her nightmare. Claire was stubborn though and waited for a window of opportunity for her next desperate move to pull Alice from her nightmare even if she didn't want to hurt Alice in any way, she just hoped that this would be over sooner than later. "Alice, please..."

A sharp sound of skin meeting skin was followed by a loud gasp and Claire braced herself to catch Alice's body which collided with her own. The redhead wrapped her arms protectively around the trembling frame as Alice returned the embrace just as fiercely. Her heart clenched painfully from every sob that came from the brunette.

"Shhh... It's alright, I'm right here." Claire whispered in her ear as she squinted in the dark to see a still form of Becky sleeping peacefully in her own bed, undisturbed. Throughout the commotion, she had forgotten about the girl. The redhead continued to whisper comforting words to Alice as she rocked them back and forth in a soothing manner to help Alice calm down. After a long while – it was like hours to Claire – Alice finally calmed down. But then, Claire felt her tense slightly, as if regretting to show this kind of weakness.

"It's okay." Claire breathed out, "You're safe."

She have been thinking about a plan ever since she found out about Wesker giving Alice that mission to find the clone, and she had decided to go with it. Alice may outrank her as an Agent, but Claire's defiance is within good reasons and intentions – it may have something to do with her latent feelings for the brunette – she knew that Alice wouldn't approve of it and would stop her, but nobody has to know about it until it's too late to change anything.

She can't let Alice face the dangers alone to save everyone while there's no one to save her.

She will protect Alice.

Even if it's too dangerous for a human like her to do so.

She felt Alice finally relaxing into her embrace in silent defeat and submission as Claire rubbed circles on Alice's back with her thumb as a comforting gesture. The redhead felt a pang of worry to see the usually strong and powerful woman in a state of frailty.

Despite the T-virus in her system, Alice is still human.

The woman in question sniffed as she reluctantly pulled away from Claire. Her voice was raspier than usual and Claire involuntarily shivered, not initially registering the concern behind it, "Where's Jill and K-Mart?"

Then the redhead mentally cursed, realizing that Jill's bed was indeed empty and it made sense that only Claire was jolted awake when Alice started screaming in her sleep.

She groaned though gritted teeth, hoping that K-Mart is with Jill, because even though she had a feeling of dislike towards the blonde Agent, she knew that her sister would be safer than with anyone else right now.

"I'll go find them." She climbed out of the bed and hastily searched for her boots. She could make out in the dark that Alice also moved to mirror her actions but Claire stopped her, "I got this."

Alice turned to face her and Claire imagined that she's frowning at her now, "But –"

"No, Alice..." Claire said with as much authority as she could muster, but she faltered when she realized that Alice still seem to be groggy from the remnants of her nightmare – this small piece of information made Claire's heart clench, she was torn between leaving Alice to find where K-Mart is or stay by the brunette's side.

She glanced at the digital clock on the bedside table. Its glowing red digits remind her of a life that she had taken for granted before the undead roamed the earth.

_1:32 AM_

In a few hours, she and Alice would have to get up to do their individual duties for the day. Claire would be supervising a handful of aspiring mechanics while Alice would usually be at the walls blasting the undead with her telekinetic abilities.

After a moment of contemplation, Claire kicked off her boots and slipped back under the covers. She could make out from Alice's silhouette that the brunette is watching her intently.

"Come here."

It surprised her that those two words came out effortlessly and it was even more surprising that Alice conceded just as easily. When she felt the bed dip to accommodate the brunette's weight and the warmth that met her own, Claire let out a breath that she didn't even know that she was holding as Alice uncharacteristically rested her head against Claire's shoulder. She felt a little guilty for not going out to find K-Mart, but then there's a part of her that told her that she made the right choice. Alice needed her right now.

She was tempted to brush her lips against Alice's forehead for a comforting kiss, but Claire didn't want to push her luck and just concentrated on matching the brunette's breathing pattern. They didn't exchange any more words even if Claire wanted to know what haunted Alice and if she wanted to talk about it, she only kept her mouth shut and tried to ignore the headache that the hangover had brought her.

A hand snaked around her waist and pulled her closer to the brunette, she swore that was Alice's nose poking at her neck as a slow intake of breath was heard. Claire felt another shiver down her spine as she stiffened for a moment, biting the inside of her cheek to keep her from physically or verbally reacting from the enticing sensation. When she realized that Alice wouldn't go away any sooner, she gave in and relaxed as she used the arm that was under Alice to return the embrace before closing her eyes, willfully ignoring the way how her body _positively_ reacted from Alice's bold sniffing.

_Get your mind off the gutter, Claire. She's not really that into you and her kid is right over there._

She kept repeating that sentence in her mind like a mantra until sleep finally took her once again, this time with Alice close, and Claire's last thoughts consisted of Alice's alluring presence and a mental note that she would give Jill a piece of her mind if she had anything to do with K-Mart's absence.

_****__**-xxx-**_

"Where the hell have you been, you little bitch?" The voice hissed, "What took you so long, huh? Was it so hard for you to come out and meet me here? Or did you start to actually enjoy your own company? What about us? Don't you care about us anymore?"

There was a momentary pause. No one else was there to hear them as a monotonous voice answered. "There is no us."

The first voice cackled. "Careful what you wish for, liar. You might miss me when I'm gone." They said in a singsong voice as a pair of boots stomped on the floor to the rhythm of a march, the sound reverberated loudly in the deserted corridor. "But you sure do love it whenever I take control, don't you, whore?"

Another round of silence as the boots stopped their noise.

"You're only keeping me prisoner–"

"–Yet you're scared of being wild and free anyway. You need me." Their tone was derisive, "Plus, I find your denial terribly amusing..." a playful growl, "and arousing."

Another cackle and a set of footsteps echoed throughout the corridor.

_**-xxx-**_

Ada didn't bother to hide the wry amusement on her face as she looked at the two blondes huddled together with a blanket draped over them to keep them warm.

Leon had stopped by the rooftop earlier to bring that same blanket for her and offered to keep her company until her shift is over, but Ada noticed the absence of Hatta whom she had asked him to watch over. The Chinese woman turned down his offer but thanked him for the blanket, and told him to find Hatta before her charge would cause a ruckus once again. Last time, Hatta tried imitating Alice's telekinetic blast, the result was three moderately damaged SUVs. Nobody was hurt during the incident, but Hatta was unconscious for a whole day.

It was quite chilly, but it was nothing that Ada couldn't handle. When she saw the two women sleeping against a wall and close to each other for body warmth, she was feeling a little more generous than usual. She had already figured by then that Jill won't be waking up any soon to relieve her from her shift, so she draped the blanket over Jill and the younger blonde and fortunately for Ada, nobody else saw her doing the deed.

Ada observed the peaceful faces in front of her for a few more moments before she finally tore her dark eyes away from them and looked at the indigo sky instead – the sun would begin to peek at the horizon within a few hours. She inhaled, coughed a little in disappointment because of the air's stale quality. The hordes of undead outside the walls were to blame for this, though with the absence of the infected mutants, it wasn't so bad.

There was a groan. Her whole frame instinctively tensed at the sound that was closely related to an infected threat, she turned around and raised her crossbow out of reflex. What met Ada's line of fire was the face of a fellow Agent whose face contorted into a grimace.

Jill flinched and Ada smirked at her, satisfied to see that look on the blonde's face, before lowering her weapon.

"Why do I feel like I'm going to be in trouble?" Jill rubbed at her temple, grimacing at the unwelcomed headache.

Ada handed her a canteen of water and Jill gratefully took it. She had already anticipated that the blonde would be hungover and needed to rehydrate as soon as she wakes up. She always prided herself to be well-prepared at all times.

"It must be your intuition telling you that." Ada then pointed her chin towards the young woman who was still sleeping soundly against Jill's shoulder. "Perhaps it has something to do with her?" It seems that Jill had just realized who she was with and groaned, clearly peeved.

The blonde Agent was about to gently wake the younger woman up when she noticed the warm blanket around them. She glanced at Ada, somehow figuring her out. It was her turn to smirk as she pulled the blanket and folded it neatly before handing it to her, along with the canteen, "Nice to know that you sort of care, Agent Wong."

Ada tried to be as expressionless as possible.

"Well... You are _sort of_ welcome, Agent Valentine."

She walked away as soon as she could.


	12. Chapter 12

**CH 12**

"Hey!"

As soon as she heard the voice that belonged to someone whom she dreaded to face, she inwardly groaned and picked up her pace, intentionally ignoring the woman's shouts.

"Stop right there!"

She didn't, wondering if she should break into a run.

_No, I would end up looking stupid __in front of these recruits__. _It would also make her look like a coward, more than she already is right now. She had managed to avoid the very unhappy woman whole morning, but now her luck seemed to run out.

A distant growl was heard behind her and the sound of gravel crunching beneath a pair of boots is starting to get closer. Despite the heat from the sun directly above her head, a cold sweat dripped down from her temple as her heart stopped for a split second before it quickened.

"I said, STOP!"

She wasn't looking forward to this, but this would happen eventually. Releasing a shaky sigh, she unwillingly stopped her legs from putting distance between her and the infuriated woman. She clenched her jaw, bracing for any form of physical assault – even though the Red Queen had put her through numerous combat and self-defense trainings, she shouldn't underestimate any potential opponent. Turning around, Jill watched in anticipation as the redhead stomped towards her with a snarl and both her hands clenched in fists.

Nowadays, it's in everyone's responsibility to keep everyone safe from the infected and Jill had failed that responsibility both as an Agent and a responsible adult by letting a defenseless civilian sleep in a dangerous place where a Kipepeo could easily snatch her from above. Jill had to carry a half-asleep teenager to the quarters while suffering from a hangover and as if that wasn't a punishment enough, Claire had somehow noticed the teen's absence the whole night. At least she had a fair warning from Alice, telling her offhandedly – during the Agents' early morning routine at the walls – that a certain redhead wasn't happy about her, and Jill knew she would face Claire's wrath eventually.

_Would Alice forgive me if I would act in self-defense? _However, there's a possibility that Alice won't since she's very protective over Claire – and Jill doesn't want to test how much.

"I promised Alice that I would be nice to you and I'm tired from work anyway," Claire huffed when she's finally within normal hearing distance, her shirt was stained with soot and grease, probably from working on one of the damaged SUVs, "so I'll make this quick, but first..."

Without warning, the redhead jabbed Jill at her chest – where her still sore puncture wounds were. The stinging pain was something that Jill could handle and she felt that she deserved it anyway. "That's for making me worry about K-Mart's whereabouts last night." Claire hissed.

Claire looked at Jill straight in the eyes and gritted her teeth, pointing a threatening finger towards the blonde, "I'm not going to act like an overprotective bitch over K-Mart, she can hang out with anyone she likes, but if anything happens to her while she's with you, even just a scratch, I won't hesitate to put a bullet in your head." Jill tried not to flinch when Claire tapped her forehead once, smearing soot on the pale skin in the process, "Do you understand?"

"Yeah..." Jill frowned, bringing a gloved hand up to wipe the dirt away, she was expecting an angrier and more violent Claire, but the redhead's threat shouldn't be taken lightly. "I understand." It sounded like Claire finally trust her to be around K-Mart, but Jill had no idea why.

_There has to be a catch_, she thought as she narrowed her eyes, trying to decipher the glaring expression the redhead is giving her. There's a hidden motive somewhere, whatever it is, Jill isn't sure if she should push her luck by proving her dominance.

Then for a moment, she felt braver and her confidence building, crossing her arms across her chest, "Though I don't take orders from you, Claire. Wesker may have appointed you as one of the commanders around here, I still outrank you."

She bit her tongue, it was too late to take back those words now. She may or may not have gained Claire's complete trust, but she had to show her that she's no pushover.

Claire scoffed but before she could open her mouth to respond with perhaps another threat, a pair of soft footsteps joined the two women and a feminine voice spoke, "Um, excuse me, Agent... Uh, Valentine?"

Jill gave a sideways glance towards a nervous-looking young woman with large blue eyes and long dark hair, she doesn't look like she belonged in the militia. Judging from the apron wrapped around her waist, she must be one of the kitchen staff. "What is it?"

"Um, my friend and I were in the main storage room to bring a some supplies to the kitchen, but..." She faltered, picking on her apron nervously.

"But?" Jill asked impatiently but kindly, she haven't been approached by anyone aside from the militia for guidance or assistance and she have been itching for some kind of action ever since the B.O.W.s somewhat left the Resistance alone.

"I think my friend is in trouble, there were shots fired, please help him! It must be one of those things!" The young woman said with such urgency yet still avoided eye contact with her. Jill wondered if she's one of the survivors from the Arcadia since most of them have a cautious or nervous attitude around her.

The blonde woman squared her shoulders, then gave Claire a quick glance and said in an authoritative voice – just to prove a point, "You're coming with me."

_**-xxx-**_

"Shit. Shit... _Shit_!" He cursed when he tripped on an unnoticed obstacle.

He shouldn't have played hero just to impress that girl. Look where it got him. He ran out of ammo – wasted _all_ rounds of his Glock – because his body and mind were too inexperienced with this encounter and now he's running for his life, completely disoriented and lost in the maze of stacked up wooden crates and boxes.

It hurts to use his left leg, it was bleeding, but he didn't want to think that he was bitten. Sure, the _thing_ had manged to get too close to him, but at least some of his bullets slowed it down a little when he made a break for it.

There was a faint creaking noise above him and he looked around frantically, the sound made the hair on his arms and the back of his neck stand.

"Hello..."

He yelped and turned around to point his gun to the owner of the voice, cursing inwardly when he remembered that he ran out of bullets.

But after seeing a familiar face, he sighed in utter relief and lowered his gun. "Oh, thank goodness!"

He might still have a chance to survive this ordeal.

The short-haired woman above him was perching on a stack of large crates, about seven feet tall – how she got up there, he had no idea, but he thought it was clever and wondered why he never thought about it before. With his injured leg, he doubt could climb on it, he's nowhere near six feet tall, but his arms are long and she could give him a hand.

"Can you help me get up there?" He asked hopefully.

The woman pursed her lips, sneered and sniffed. "You're bitten."

His face paled at her statement, but she only gave him a strange toothy grin that didn't meet her eyes and drawled in her usual empty tone, "Hmmm... Yes..."

The distant groan from an undead didn't help easing his anxiety and he glanced at where the sound came from, turned to the woman again, with more desperation in his youthful face and voice, "Help me, please!"

He didn't know which is scarier at this moment, the indifferent calmness in the woman's features or the inevitable appearance of the undead.

"Yes... I will..." It sounded more like she was talking to herself than to him and the inhuman groaning came closer, "The prey fell for the bait... Hmmmm..."

"What are you talking about!? Help me!" He screamed, half-hoping that someone saner than this woman could hear him.

A growl, but it didn't belong to the undead who was already a several feet away from him, it was from the woman, "I will... And I will help you live... Hmmm, yes..." Her toothy grin now transformed into a snarl, "And I will help myself..."

The undead finally appeared, its mandibles ready to consume uninfected flesh, rushing towards him like a predator.

In one final act of will to survive, the human jumped to reach for the edge of the crate to pull himself up. His efforts were in vain though, despite the adrenaline coursing through his body, it was still impossible with his injured state. The foul stench was now overwhelming and he felt his heart stop as he closed his eyes, hoping that his end would come swiftly and painlessly.

_**-xxx-**_

"Holy shit..." Claire wasted no time to unholster her Glock and trained the barrel of her gun at the hole on the floor, just a few feet away from a wall, surrounded by several unopened crates, its diameter is as wide as a person with their arms tucked to their sides. The bottom couldn't be seen, it was definitely deep, a tunnel. It reminded her of her earlier encounters with an Axeman at the prison, hoping that there won't be any infected giant in the warehouse.

Jill looked at her, a little confused. "You've seen this before?"

"Yeah and it's bad news." Claire responded, "Keep your eyes open, there might be more than one unwelcomed guests in here."

"What's your name, kid?" Jill asked the young woman who led them here.

"Marley, ma'am... Marley Rose."

"Alright, Marley. I need you to stay outside and don't let anyone come in unless it's Agent Wong or Agent Abernathy, understand?"

"Yes, ma'am." Marley responded and went to the warehouse's exit.

The blonde woman waited until the young brunette was out of the building then addressed Claire, taking out her MP5 sub machine gun, "You stay here and make sure nothing infected gets in."

Claire nodded and watched Jill disappear behind rows of stacked crates. A few moments later, she heard Jill shout, though she doesn't sound like she ran into some kind of trouble, "Hey, Claire?"

"Yeah?" The redhead answered.

There was a short pause before the blonde's voice could be heard again, "If it's any consolation to you... It really fucking stinks in here."

Claire chuckled. "Good. I hope you suffer."

The entrance door of the warehouse creaked open and a pair of footsteps echoed throughout the large building.

"I could literally smell trouble here." It was Alice. She stopped beside Claire and frowned at the hole, "Dammit."

Claire watched Alice's expression go from worry to irritation to a hint of panic. The changes were subtle and short-lived, but Claire felt like she knew Alice instinctively that she could pick up the brunette's elusive emotional response.

Alice was in her usual tactical clothing but with the absence of any weapons. Claire clicked her tongue disapprovingly at this. Alice may be superhuman and have no need for weapons, but it would never hurt to be a little more prepared. Recklessness is easily one's cause of death, especially with the infected threat around.

"What?" Alice raised her brows at her.

"Don't you have at least a knife with you?"

Alice only smirked and shrugged, "I'm sure a knife is much more useful for anyone else than for me." Then she looked at the direction where she sensed Jill's presence, "Heads up, Valentine. There's one undead... but..." She sniffed, "I think it's not a threat anymore."

"_Great_. Thanks for the spoiler, Abernathy." Jill answered back sarcastically, if Claire could see her now, she must have rolled her eyes, "I feel much safer and bored."

"Dead? Then Marley's friend must have already killed it." Claire said hopefully.

"Perhaps. There's a human and..." Alice paused as her brows were knitted.

"Uh, guys?" Jill's uncertain tone interrupted the brunette, "I think you might want to see this." A short pause, then the blonde added, "And I hope you haven't eaten yet."

Alice nodded at Claire to follow her as they went to where Jill was. As they were nearing to Jill's location, the scent of decay became more conspicuous. When they reached their destination, the blonde woman immediately quipped as soon as she saw them, "If this is a presentation of a messed up food pyramid, then it seems that the cuckoo ones are the apex predators."

An undead was on the floor, its body riddled with bullet holes but it looked like they didn't stop him. Though its head was dented like someone had bashed it on the concrete so hard that its brain matter splattered all over the floor.

A few feet away from the infected corpse was a human, probably the one whom Marley had mentioned, and from the looks of his attire and the green band on his right arm, he belonged to the militia. Though it seems that he wouldn't be needed in the force anymore now that he's missing a leg. He was unconscious, but with a quick check for a pulse by Jill and Alice's confirmation, he's alive and uninfected.

"What about her?" Claire nodded towards the likely suspect of the crime scene.

"Harmless, she said." Jill muttered, her voice mimicked Ada's mild accent. "Harmless my ass. She's eating the guy's leg." She didn't raise her SMG at the small woman though, but her stance made it clear that she would shoot if necessary. "And to think that Ada just let her roam around..."

Hatta was sitting on the floor, her legs sprawled before her as if she's very comfortable on the floor while the presence of a decaying corpse, an unconscious person and armed women didn't bother her at all. Clutched in her hands was a dismembered leg – or what's left of it. Her mouth was still dripping with blood and she only gave the three women a blank expression while chewing.

"Alice?" Claire turned to the brunette. She's grateful for Hatta's help back in the Arcadia, but if the woman have finally lost it and proved to be harmful to the general population despite what Ada had claimed, appropriate measures had to be taken. And Alice's rank entitled her to decide Hatta's fate.

"The leg's bitten." Was Alice's answer as she kneeled in front of Hatta to inspect the woman's meal closely. Hatta didn't seem to mind though – even extended her arms towards Alice, like she's offering Alice a share of her meal.

Jill scoffed, "No shit, Sherlock. She fucking chomped on it."

Alice rolled her eyes, "No." She pointed at a particular area of the leg, "See this? She just ate around it."

Claire's brow were raised in mild interest, "Well, damn. I think she just saved the kid's life."

The two women watched Alice stick a finger at one of the open flesh wounds and brought it to her mouth to suck on it.

"Alice! Ugh!" Jill exclaimed, her face scrunched up in disgust, "Everyone knows you have a fortress for an immune system, but you don't have to demonstrate it in front of us."

The brunette stood, running her tongue over her lips, almost like she's savoring the taste – and Claire find it morbidly sensual – before breathing out a light laugh, "I was just checking. Yes, the leg is definitely infected, but Hatta had amputated it just in time." She looked at Hatta, who resumed in leisurely consuming her meal, which Jill and Claire weren't enthusiastic to watch but remained vigilant anyway, "But she still needs to be quarantined, in case the additional exposure to the virus affects her in any way."

"Will she be alright?" Claire asked while putting her gun away. Hatta doesn't seem to be a threat, at least for now. It's creepy how the small woman remind her of Wesker back in Arcadia somehow. She wondered if the flesh-eating habit is a phase or not.

"I don't know..." Alice shook her head grimly, "But I hope she won't end up as a full-time cannibal."


	13. Chapter 13

**CH 13**

Ada breathed in through her nose to maintain her cool façade. She shot an uninterested look at the suited up lackey guarding the door to Wesker's office. He cleared his throat, trying in vain not to show how intimidated he was by the Agent as he opened the door for her.

When the Chinese woman finally entered the room, she looked at the interior. It hadn't changed the last time she was summoned here, with the exception for the broken window which was now crudely patched with a thick translucent plastic to keep the elements out but still let the light in. Wesker stood in a corner surrounded by machines and computers, greeting her with a meaningless smile.

"Ah, Agent Wong. How may I help you?"

His empty words has no effect towards Ada, so she went straight to the point. "You have rejected all two of my proposals for a supply run and one for a search and rescue mission. Why?"

"I am perfectly aware of that and I have my reasons." Wesker answered calmly, his eyes glowed behind his new pair of dark glasses,"One of them is, as you can see, that I am quite busy."

"What kind of selfish scheme are you planning here, Wesker?"

A deep chuckle came from the blonde man, not bothering to look at Ada as he typed something in one of the computers surrounding him, most of the monitors hidden from her sight. "Selfish? No, I'd rather call it optimal." There was a beeping sound coming from one of the computers and Wesker left the one he was working on to check on it. After pressing a few keys, he turned to her and said, "And you are in perfect timing. Send Agent Abernathy here. I need to speak to her about her pending mission."

The raven-haired woman redirected her anger by clenching her hands into fists. After several years of working under Wesker during her days as an employee of Umbrella, she thought she could get used to his apathy. But now, with people looking up to the Agents for hope and guidance – while the supposed leader of the Resistance only seem to be interested in his own goals – Ada wanted to be a better person than she was before. However, she couldn't afford to aggravate Wesker. He may look amiable now, but his superhuman strength and speed was something Ada didn't want to be the receiving end of. If anyone can change Wesker's mind by force, it was Alice.

"Oh, and before you go," Wesker suddenly appeared beside her before Ada could reach for the door, a gloved hand grasped her wrist to stop her, "I think you should know that your adopted pet had caused another... tasteful incident once again." He laughed a mirthless laugh as he languidly let go of her, "Quite a resilient creature. I'm impressed that the defective project is still functioning, albeit poorly."

Ada glowered at him before leaving the office angry and annoyed.

**_-xxx-_ **

K-Mart squirmed in her seat. She doesn't want to be here, but it's a requirement to everyone in the Resistance. Though usually, newcomers get interviewed as soon as they arrive, the people from Arcadia are given time to recover their memories in order to provide accurate information about themselves.

"Alright... K-Mart, is it? I'm sure no parents aren't that stupid to name their spawn after a convenience store. " A blonde short-haired woman said while typing something in her computer. "Got another name? A real one, preferably."

K-Mart bit the inside of her cheek, "It's Dahlia, ma'am..."

"Any family with you in the Resistance?"

"Claire and Chris Redfield." The blonde teen said without hesitation. "Siblings."

The middle-aged woman paused to look at her and raised a disbelieving brow. "Related by blood?"

K-Mart looked down and played with her hands, "Not really."

A smirk and the clicking of keys continued, "Not surprised. You're not as ginger as your famous sister. I heard she got the womanly balls to punch an Agent in the face, though the rumors weren't that clear for me to find out what caused her to do it or which Agent she had kissed with her fist. Age?"

"Nineteen."

"Any combat experience?"

"A bit. I was taught how to use the shotgun and some self-defense. Killed a few undead when I was still with a convoy led by Claire." She tried to hide a fond smile while remembering how she acquired those skills.

"Huh. Guess you're eligible to join the ranks, if you want to. It's not a popular choice though, most people around here prefer to be whiny babies and chop onions then cry about their loss. But at least the food served in the mess hall have been closer to edible ever since that absolutely stunning kind-faced blue-eyed girl and her oversized mother ruled the kitchen."

K-Mart perked up at the mention of her chance in joining the militia, though she wasn't paying attention to most of Officer Sylvester's condescending rant about the kitchen staff. "Is there a requirement to join?"

"If you're planning to be another whiny baby, be my guest. Just talk to the woman-who-have-eaten-everything, Millie Rose. She's pretty much the queen bee in the food department."

"Um, I meant... How do I get recruited to the militia? I want to help." The teen swallowed after uttering those words. It was something that Claire and Chris needed to know about, but she's no longer a child and she can make her own decisions. She doesn't like the thought of just sitting around comfortably, doing nothing to help the Resistance with their fight against the Red Queen's infected army. It's a dangerous line of work, but after spending one night on the rooftop made her realize how most people around here just take their safety for granted. And besides, she might have a better chance of keeping Wesker off her back when she's within the ranks of the military. He haven't done anything since but sometimes, she would catch him watching her from afar with that unnerving smug look on his face like she's a meal.

Officer Sylvester gave her an impressed smile, "I like you, kid. God knows we need more people like you. Most lousy recruits here just wanted to be in the ranks because of the benefits of better quarters or peer pressure, like this is some high school which they can frolic through. Look what happened to most of those incompetent losers, they're either dead or undead. Do you know how many idiots we've lost in the past week alone? Fifty! They were pretty useless anyway, considering most of them died from friendly fire, but still a huge loss nonetheless. But you..." She narrowed her eyes at K-Mart as the lines in her face deepened, making her look more intimidating, "Despite that pretty face, you look like you're born to kick some infected ass and I say, go for it, sister."

K-Mart flustered at the older woman's habit of using several sentences in one breath, if she haven't been paying attention again, she wouldn't understand a word. "Thanks. But you still haven't told me how I could join."

Officer Sylvester smirked and reached for something under her desk. She pulled out a piece of paper but before she could give it to K-Mart, who was already reaching for it with eager hands, the older woman tutted, "Not so fast, blondie. You're not done with me yet. Sit."

K-Mart let out a small impatient groan and sank down again to her seat.

**_-xxx-_ **

"Do you think she's pissed that we locked her up?" One of the soldiers behind Alice said above a whisper, careful not to offend.

"I don't know. If anything, she looks quite happy there." Alice responded, securing the locks in place, though it was only for the soldiers' peace of mind rather than keeping anyone in the room from escaping. "She can blast her way out if she isn't."

The brunette turned to the two young men whom she had assigned to guard the room where Hatta was quarantined in. "If she ever manages to get out, just stay out of her way and look for me or any of the Agents immediately, alright? No heroics."

"Yes, ma'am." Both of them saluted and went to their posts on each side of the door.

There was a noise from the inside, but it wasn't loud enough to be alarming. The soldiers stiffened at the sound but kept a brave face. Alice didn't need to press an ear at the door to listen to the rhythmical pattern of the noise.

"Vivian?"

The rhythmic banging stopped but there was no verbal answer, so she tried again.

"Hatta?"

"I'm busy! Go away!" Hatta, or Vivian, shouted back before resuming the rhythmical noise like she's playing on a make-shift set of drums. She must have made use of the bedside table. Then she started singing the lines from a song which Alice didn't recognize, "_Ships were made for sinking, whiskey made for drinking, if we were all made of cellophane we'd be all get stinking drunk quite faster!_" An empty humorless laugh before continuing, "_Gwine to run all night, gwine to run all day..._"

Alice sighed at Hatta's antics, reassuring the two soldiers who were visibly anxious, "It's alright. She's just... entertaining herself."

She left them the extra keys then went to the warehouse where Claire helped a group of recruits preparing the cement to seal the hole with. There was also another group who were cleaning up the gory mess that was left behind.

The brunette sniffed. Once. Twice. Making sure that there wasn't any infected that she had missed. She tried not to over analyze the situation, but the undead that had managed to get in through the tunnel dug may be some kind of a message from the Red Queen. Wesker have made it clear that the Rain clone only has the potential to manipulate B.O.W.s and not an ordinary undead, but Alice wondered if there's a possibility that the clone is responsible for this. She shuddered at the thought, but she kept her fears to herself.

Her task would be arranging the wooden crates properly so the whole building wouldn't resemble a maze anymore. The Resistance didn't have the necessary heavy equipment to make it easier for a human, but Alice's telekinesis is enough for her to get the job done. She waited for the group to finish up their task in cleaning and ordered them to stay out of her way before moving the first few crates.

Alice was so absorbed to her task and her own thoughts that she failed to register an incoming presence until a hand gingerly rests on her shoulder. It was a tender contact, but she gasped and brushed it away as if it burned her. When she saw a pair of worried green eyes, she snapped back to reality.

"Are you okay?" Claire asked softly, her hand squeezed Alice's forearm as a gesture of support.

That moment made Alice realize that she was trembling a little. She frowned but didn't shy away from the comforting physical contact. "I'm fine." She rasped, "I'm just..." Hastily looking for an alibi or a reason, Alice remembered how the human blood tasted when she checked it for infection. "Just hungry, that's all."

She didn't want to believe it, but she actually enjoyed the human sample Hatta had offered her to taste. Though she didn't crave for it, the option was still there, deep inside of her. It was like a temptation that she didn't have to give in – at least, not yet.

"Well, I'm not surprised. I haven't seen you in breakfast." Claire gave her a half-smile and started to pull her arm, "Come on, it's already time for lunch anyway."

Alice smirked, deciding to be playful. "Are you asking me out?"

"Do you want me to?" Claire answered, her face the epitome of innocence as she linked her arm with Alice's. Alice welcomed the contact and let the redhead lead her towards the exit.

"Depends if you really want to." She drawled and watched the younger woman from the corner of her eye. She was pleased to find a hint of blush coloring Claire's cheeks. The edges of Claire's mouth turned up into a mischievous grin as she craned her neck to look at Alice and the brunette, in turn, breathed in her delicious scent – it was much more delectable than the petty human blood that she had tasted.

"I do."

The simplicity of those two words made Alice's heart flutter. It was a rare feeling for her, even before the world ended, and her fondness towards Claire grew to be more than just friendly.

As soon as they were finally out of the warehouse though, both women were greeted by the arrival of Ada Wong. Alice sneered, not at the sight of her fellow Agent but at the distinct stench of Wesker on her and she knew instantly what Ada would say.

"Tell him I'll be there when I get there." Alice said before the other woman could open her mouth. Without thinking twice, she grabbed Claire's hand – much to the redhead's surprise – and went to the direction of the mess hall.

The idea of having her time spent with Claire to be cut short irked Alice and she knew that it was selfish of her to think that way but she couldn't find the reason to care otherwise. It felt like she was giving in to whatever it was between her and the redhead.

**_-xxx-_ **

"Why did I agree to this again? Can't you just do this yourself?" Jill groaned as she entered the training room with Chris. She grimaced at the sight before her, the mere thought of being in an enclosed room with several recruits and their expectations about her leadership already made her a little queasy, and now that she's looking at these young fresh-faced men and women – who looked like they could break easily – she would rather face two axemen than having anything to do with these eager recruits. If it were up to her, she'd be better off being unimportant.

"Well, I think it's always a good idea to give these freshmeats a taste of..." Chris realized his mistake when he noticed Jill immediate response. His choice of words made Jill frown in disgust, her thoughts instantly filled with Hatta's recent cannibalism and it didn't help with her queasiness.

"I mean..." Chris cleared his throat and tried again, "this is usually Agent Wong's job, but she told me in advance that she'll be pretty busy today and Agent Abernathy is supervising over the warehouse incident. So..." He smiled, a small gesture to both encourage and tease his friend, "I think this is a good time for you to be familiar with those under your command, _Agent_."

Jill scoffed and she was ready to say another excuse when a well-dressed dark-skinned woman approached the two. The blonde did a double take at what she was wearing, eyeing her from head to toe. She was dressed like a business woman, with a pair of short-heeled shoes, a gray pencil skirt and a matching gray suit. Her black hair was tied into a neat ponytail and the red rimmed eyeglasses made her almost look like a librarian – a very attractive librarian if Jill has anything to say about it, and judging from Chris' appreciative smile towards the dark-skinned woman, he shares Jill's opinion.

"Right on time, you two." The woman said in a charming accent which Jill recognized as West African. She looked at Jill and held out her hand for her to shake, "We haven't properly met, I am Sheva Alomar."

Jill took Sheva's hand, "Jill Valentine." She said after shaking the hand briefly and noticed the calloused and combat-worn quality of it.

"I know. You're not that hard to miss and Big Man here has already told me so much about you."

"Big... Man?" Jill raised a brow at Chris, who only shrugged at her. He winked at Sheva. Both already knew each other. "Huh, really..."

Sheva's laughter helped alleviate Jill's nagging anxiety, "Don't worry your pretty little head about this little meeting. I think you're quite the bad ass, if I say so myself." She then handed Jill a folder, even made a conspicuous effort to make sure her hand brushed against Jill's while doing so, "These are all you need to know about each recruits in this room. The newest ones that had just joined today are included here. Lucky you."

"Thanks, I guess..." Jill frowned uncertainly at the subtle flirting and wondered if this was her friend's idea. The man in question hid his triumphant smile in vain when Sheva slapped Jill's posterior playfully which made the blonde jump a little in surprise before the brunette left the room.

Some of the recruits who lack the restraint snickered, much to Jill's chagrin. But she hastily regained her dignity by quieting them with a glare.

"If you think that was funny, let's see if you're still laughing after I'm done with each of you." She snarled, using every bit of annoyance she felt to fuel her intimidation. Jill glanced at Chris, making sure that her message wasn't just addressed towards the recruits.

_Pull yourself together, Valentine. This is just a simple orientation._ Jill skimmed through the papers in her hand, using it as an excuse for a momentary delay before she could officially start. But when she came across a familiar name, she frowned, disbelieving. _Oh, hell no... No, it must be just someone else._

She looked up, searching among the faces of each recruit who were all standing in parade rest. She didn't find her, at first, and it was a brief respite. But she caught a shuffle of movements at the corner of her eye and she looked again.

Then Jill cursed under her breath.

**_-xxx-_ **

Another pained howl resounded in the room as the latest unsuccessful challenger scurried away.

"Pathetic! Next!"

She could tell that Jill wasn't happy. It was very obvious by the look on her face since she found her here among her fellow recruits and it became much more apparent when the Agent demanded that she would only permit to dismiss them and end the meeting after one of them would land a hit on her – which was impossible, since nobody in the training room could outmatch Jill's battle prowess, even Chris himself.

A blonde man came up and Jill asked his name. Sam Evans. K-Mart heard Santana scoff beside her.

"I don't think Trouty Mouth got a chance."

K-Mart didn't bother to respond. She's only worried about Jill's temper, though the Agent was mindful enough and that her blows weren't that powerful.

She watched Sam taking advantage of his mass and charged towards Jill, targeting for her midsection. It was a lousy move, seeing how lightning fast Jill is compared to him. Jill quickly sidestepped and kicked him behind his knees without even looking back to see his face being planted on the floor. Sam groaned as he stood up to his feet to join the recruits.

"Always keep your eyes on the enemy." Jill said tersely. "Next!"

Another recruit moved forward, but K-Mart didn't have the chance to observe the exchange when she felt an arm wrap around her own and she looked confusedly at Santana whose eyes narrowed like she was planning something.

"What?"

"This is going on too long..."

K-Mart rolled her eyes, "I know."

"And I'm hungry... Everyone here are, obviously. It's way past lunch time already."

"Your point?"

"I think you're the one who should finish this." Santana said quickly just as Jill called for another opponent. "For the sake of your peers, right? Good luck!"

"Next!"

Before K-Mart could protest, she was shoved by Santana into the front of the room, where an unhappy blonde woman was waiting.

Jill frowned at her and K-Mart smiled sheepishly.

"Hey..."

The response was cold. "Hey yourself."

"Can't we talk about this?" She asked, half-hoping that Jill would be merciful with her. She's not looking forward to kiss the floor and embarrass herself.

There was laughter from the spectators as the Agent sneered at her and answered, "No."

As soon as Jill made a move, K-Mart quickly took a few steps backwards with a hand held up defensively. The recruits laughed at her. It may looked cowardly, but she isn't planning on running away from her, she was only looking for an opening. Playing the vulnerable, defenseless girl might work.

"What are you waiting for? Hit me." Jill taunted as she slowly marched up towards her. "Or maybe you're just not cut out for this? You should quit while you're ahead, kid."

"Jill..." Chris said, perhaps a reminder to go easy on her. He's evidently on K-Mart's side. He was just as surprised when he found K-Mart among the recruits, though he seems to be taking it well unlike Jill. The woman only scoffed at him then glared at the younger blonde as she advanced threateningly.

"You're not going to hurt me, are you?" K-Mart pouted slightly, scrunching her brows upwards.

Jill's face softened for a moment and her movements faltered.

_There._

That was all K-Mart needed and the other woman was close enough, so she brought up her leg and swiftly connected it to Jill's abdomen.

It wasn't exactly a skillful move, but the recruits cheered at her triumph while Chris tried to suppress his impressed laugh. Jill had a hand over her stomach, her eyes wide not from pain but from surprise. A look of betrayal etched all over her face for a split second before Jill sneered at K-Mart, unimpressed yet grudgingly accepted her defeat anyway.

"Clever." Jill said as soon as the cheering died down, she straightened up and continued, "But that was a cheap trick, playing with a person's emotions and conscience."

She turned to the recruits, the tone of her voice and her expression stern, "Do you think you can pull that shit off against an undead? No, they're not people anymore. They don't have any emotions. No conscience. They can't feel anything even if you stab them with a knife or break their bones. As long as they can still move, they would still pursue you and if they get you..." A short pause as Jill grimaced, "they will kill you or worse, turn you into one of them. They'd still do it even if you begged for mercy. Just one bite and consider yourself dead. One bite and nobody can save you anymore."

She dismissed them after that, but not before informing them when their training would start.

As the recruits eagerly left the training room, K-Mart waited until everyone was gone. Santana had passed by and winked at her, gesturing at her to come with her but K-Mart shook her head no, so the Hispanic woman simply sauntered away.

Jill was discussing something with Chris. She didn't know what they were talking about, but she had caught the end of her adoptive older brother's sentence, "...won't be coming with us, so she'll be fine."

"Yeah, okay. Well, I still got some things to do... See you later, Chris." Jill said as she sneaked a glance at the blonde teen before ending her conversation with Chris.

The man nodded before heading towards the door to leave. When he saw K-Mart, he went to her and gently squeezed her shoulder with his large hand, "Are you sure about this?"

"I am. I should have told you guys sooner."

Chris sighed, his heavy eyebrows looked much more heavier when he did that, "Right. I'm not going to baby you, but I hope you fully understand what you've gotten yourself into. This is war, K..." Then he smiled, although wearily, "or should I call you Dahlia?"

K-Mart scrunched up her nose, it didn't feel wrong to hear him to say her real name but it didn't felt right either. It's just there. A name in her file. No one else, except Jill, have called her that before.

"Nah. K-Mart is fine."

The eldest Redfield chuckled, "Okay, talk to you soon then, sis."

With that he left, leaving K-Mart alone with Jill in the training room.

She was standing by one of the doors, the nearest one to Jill whose back was facing her from across the room. The older blonde seemed busy shuffling through all of the recruits files and not bothering to use a table. With a pen in one hand, she would pause at each of them to write something on the paper.

As K-Mart watched her standing there, she wondered if she should approach her or just stay where she is. Jill made no implication whether she is aware of her presence or just blatantly ignoring her.

"You're angry at me, aren't you?"

She swallowed the lump forming in her throat, not expecting the other woman to answer.

Jill's shoulders sag a little, dropping her arms. She let out a long-suffering sigh as she turned to face her, her eyes showed signs of fatigue, it was obvious now that it was only the two of them.

"I was, but it was pointless to stay that way."

K-Mart wanted to cross the distance between them, wanted to see her closely, wanted to know what she was thinking, what she thought of her. But she didn't. Instead, she looked away, absent-mindedly picking at her new green band on her arm that denotes her rank. She's a lowly recruit now and Jill is a powerful Agent.

Footsteps echoed in the empty room as Jill approached her, she handed the folder to K-Mart, "Hold this for me."

While K-Mart watched curiously, the Agent undid the straps of the gun holster on her thigh. She recognized the gun that Agent Wong had confiscated from her. She stifled a breath when Jill's lithe fingers brushed her thigh while securing the holster in place.

"Did you know that I like you, Dahlia?" Jill muttered softly as she worked on securing the straps. The comment came out of nowhere and K-Mart felt warmth spreading from within her, to her neck, to her face, to her ears, even to the top of her head, then back again before diminishing into a pleasant hum. It felt nice to hear Jill say those words, even though she's still uncertain about the older blonde's true feelings for her. She was annoyed to watch how Captain Alomar flirted with Jill earlier and maybe, just maybe, Jill also thought that way.

The elation was short-lived, however, when she saw Jill's displeased frown, her dark blue eyes downwards, focused on her current task.

"But you're such a headache..." She clicked her tongue, pulling at a strap a little harder than necessary, "Everything you do these days gets me into trouble with Claire..." When she was done, she stepped back and retrieved the folder that was in K-Mart's hands, "As if I don't have enough problems to deal with as an Agent."

Jill scoffed to no one in particular, shaking her head to herself while her shoulder brushed past K-Mart's as she exited the room.

And with that, after a shared fleeting moment, K-Mart finally registered the new weight of the gun in her person and a new level frustration she felt towards Jill.

* * *

_**A/N: **Hatta's song is "Ghost of Stephen Foster" by Squirrel Nut Zippers.  
_


	14. Chapter 14

_**A/N:** Hello, my dear readers! First of all, sorry for the terrible delay. Real life and its problems (everyone has them, right?) got in the way and I was also busy rewriting an original fiction. But chapter 14 is here now, so don't worry about me abandoning this story. Thank you for all your reviews, faves and follows!  
_

* * *

**CH 14**

"Do you remember the White Queen?" Wesker asked, but didn't give Alice the chance to answer as he continued, "She was always the neutral one, but I'm not surprised that she came back to my aid as soon as you joined the Resistance. Sometimes I wonder what's her opinion, _if_ she ever had one from the start, about her sister computer whom we all know went one-eighty from her original programming."

Alice crossed her arms, she doesn't like the idea of cooperating with Wesker, but he holds the information that benefits the Resistance. However, she wondered if the risk of trusting him would make up for it. "Just give it to me straight, Wesker. Where is the clone?"

The man smiled, but it wasn't a happy nor a smug one, it was just a smile. Perhaps to hide his uncertainty or his thoughts.

"This is the part where you have to admit that I am intellectually far more superior than you, Agent Abernathy." As soon as his arrogance started to show, Alice sneered. Wesker didn't mind her reaction though. "I've tracked her movements with the help of the White Queen. I observed that she mimicked your strategy when you were still hiding from the company's eyes, which we both know, was a failure in the end. Like you, the clone forgot about the rerouted satellite and the White Queen confirmed that she's heading to the Umbrella facility in Nevada two hours ago."

"What would she want from the facility?" A skeptic frown formed in Alice's face.

Wesker craned his head a little to the side, pondering her question. "The hive in Nevada is one of the facilities who still has the proper equipment to produce clones, but that would take at least a year to produce a batch and she wouldn't need any since she has the B.O.W.s." He leaned back on his chair, threading his fingers together as he rests his elbows on the arm rests. He looked so comfortable that Alice wanted to shove her boot into his face and see if it could leave any footprint. "Unexpectedly, there were only a few of them sighted with her. Not more than twenty. I'm suspecting that she's hiding the most of the B.O.W.s from our sight to catch us off guard, but I won't allow it. So I'm suggesting a slight change of our plans. We will act in defense." He smirked, "Mostly."

The brunette growled, her patience already wearing thin. "I still don't see the reason why you insist on talking only to me about this. This is a matter that requires all of the Resistance's agents and commanders' first-hand knowledge."

Wesker simply clicked his tongue, "Because they will know what they only need to know, Agent. I am impressed how your mere presence here in the Resistance have not only boosted the morale of the soldiers but lessened unnecessary casualties as well. So when the time comes that the clone and the B.O.W.s attack, the soldiers will think that they are fighting by your side and the clone will think that she has you cornered while you," He pointed a gloved finger at Alice, not minding the dangerous scowl she's giving him, "will be covertly sent behind enemy lines to terminate the clone."

Alice tried not to show her bafflement at Wesker's words. Is he taking a gamble by telling her that she would leave the humans to defend themselves from the B.O.W.s while she would be sent to a secret mission? How would that benefit him? She thought his plan was to keep his friends – if he had any – close and his enemies closer.

"I don't think you can fool them, Wesker. I'm staying here if it means that I could protect the Resistance better."

"But who will face the head of the horde to stop her from siccing her pets at us? Hm? You're the most suitable candidate for that task and I don't see why you fail to realize that."

He is right. Alice can still argue, but she doesn't even have a better plan herself. None that she can think of at the moment.

Later, they entered a large room with a long table and chairs in the middle. There was a screen mounted on a wall. Some of the chairs were already occupied. On one side of the table were the top three commanders of the Resistance's militia, Chris, Claire and Leon. On the other side were the Agents Jill and Ada.

Jill had her feet propped up on the table, picking her nails with a bored expression on her face while nodding to whatever Chris, sitting across her, was telling her. Leon was gazing somewhat longingly, evident even with the usual brooding look on his handsome features, at Ada who was busily tinkering something on the tablet computer in her hands. The Chinese woman never gave him glance. Claire, who was sitting between the two men, was glaring disapprovingly at Jill, her arms across at her chest.

Wesker and Alice had the same stealthy entrance and it was the highly trained Agents who noticed them first before the commanders did. Jill raised her head to greet Alice while Ada stood from her chair to hand the tablet over to Wesker.

"I trust that you've already told them why they're here?"

Alice noticed the muscles under Ada's right eye twitch in response to Wesker's words. However, her voice didn't betray any clue about herself. "Yes."

"Good." The blonde man said like he was talking to a well-trained pet, "Now, sit."

Ada pursed her lips together, lingering for a little while longer as an act of small defiance as her eyes settled on Alice for a moment. Alice thought Ada was trying to give her a message, but as soon as it started, the Chinese woman looked away when Wesker breathed out audibly in impatience and returned to her seat.

Alice sat on the empty seat between Jill and Ada, with Claire directly across her. The redhead gave her a warm smile which Alice quickly returned without any second thoughts.

Alice turned to look at Jill when the blonde removed her feet from the table and rested her elbow on it instead, her temple leaning on the knuckles of her closed hand, then let out a brief sigh. The blonde was acting entirely disinterested and bored, though it wasn't anything new to Alice. She is probably feeling sick again.

Wesker sat himself at the head of the table, feeling at home in his current position. "Well, I hope the days have been kind to all of you..." He began, but the meaning behind his pleasantries were useless, considering how everyone in the room weren't exactly fond of him, though he continued anyway, his tone left no room for riddles, "Because tomorrow, the B.O.W.s will attack. We will be surrounded. It's best that we should prepare immediately."

The reactions were of general surprise – even Ada Wong, whom Alice had suspected to at least know something about it. Jill became suddenly alert, the sluggishness in her eyes gone. Even Leon's usual somber expression turned into utter concern. It was understandable. The news was sudden, since they were assured days before that the B.O.W.s won't be bothering the Resistance until Alice and her team would eliminate the impending threat before it could do anything. Now, they only have a few moments to process the information.

"Why are you telling us this now? Aren't we supposed to get the clone before she gets us?" Chris said, his eyebrows dipping low in subdued anger towards his superior's calm attitude about the situation.

He was supported by his sister, who refuses to keep her thoughts to herself, "What other information are you keeping from us, Wesker?"

"At least _I_ have taken away our enemies' element of surprise." Wesker retorted, putting extra emphasis by gesturing to himself. His words weren't enough to pacify the siblings though, but before they could say anything more, he added, "Unless you have a better plan than to gripe about my authority, I suggest you shut your mouth until I need you to speak." He pressed something on the tablet, the screen opposite him showing the blueprint of the Resistance's compound. With a few swipes, he brought up their names on the screen. "Kennedy, you have the most men under your command, you will be defending the South and East walls. Chris Redfield at the West and North. Agent Abernathy, you will be everywhere, assist any team with the best of you abilities. And I trust that you know what I mean." He smiled secretly – and Alice didn't like it one bit – before continuing, "Agent Wong, you will be leading Claire's men behind the walls, eliminate any B.O.W.s that slip past Kennedy and Redfield. Agent Valentine, security detail on the civilians. You'll be leading the newer, less experienced recruits."

Jill scoffed at this, muttering to herself. "_Great_. I'm going to take a bunch of kids with me."

If Wesker heard her, he didn't show it, and continued in explaining the battle plans in detail.

Alice frowned. Although she felt relief in not hearing that Claire would be in the front line, she doubts that Wesker has a less dangerous plan for the redhead. Claire didn't seem surprised at this as she listened to their leader with a skeptical look on her face.

When she heard him mention Claire's name, Alice felt her stomach drop.

"Claire Redfield, you will be Agent Abernathy's partner."

"No!"

Her sudden outburst made Jill jump, startled, while others – save Claire who seem to be expecting this from her – widened their eyes at her. Wesker only sneered at what he sees as insolence.

Alice knew very well that she would be sent to the worst of the horde and if Claire would be accompanying her in this mission, the redhead would only be in much more danger than staying within the walls of the Resistance's compound.

"You are in no position to defy my orders, Agent. And besides, given the... _importance_ of your mission," The side of Wesker's mouth twitched upwards, "I decided that you will need someone by your side, to keep an eye on you."

"I can handle the mission alone, I don't want anyone to be endangered because of me." Alice snarled.

"You are a powerful weapon, Agent, but you rely too much on yourself and who knows, you might even abandon your post. Having someone with you would benefit not only yourself, but the Resistance as well."

The brunette bared her teeth. Is this Wesker's way of keeping her on a leash? Of course. He's very cunning and clever. A sociopath. He had already figured from the start that Alice is very attached to Claire. How dare he called her both a coward and a traitor when those are basically his own nature. Alice should have killed him when she got the chance.

Out of blind rage, she sprung out from her chair like a blood-thirsty wolf. Ada was quick enough to get out of her way as the brunette sprinted on the table to tackle Wesker. Even though her target became a speeding blur in an attempt to avoid her, her hands still managed latch to his neck, thumbs digging into pale flesh to block his wind pipe.

Both went down to the floor, Wesker on his back as he tried to kick and pry Alice off him. But it wasn't his effort that pried Alice away from him.

Two pairs of arms were holding Alice back, but the brunette was much stronger than them that she elbowed someone on the abdomen before her mind registered who she had hit. When she heard Claire shouting his name, she stopped struggling and turned to see Chris, fortunately conscious but dazed, on the floor. Leon let go of her after making sure she had calmed down.

"I'm so sorry!" Alice completely forgot about Wesker and panic rose up to her chest. The man may look physically okay, but that is no guarantee that he isn't permanently damaged.

"Ugh, it's alright. Just don't do it to me again." Chris groaned as he sat up. "Jill wasn't kidding about your super strength..."

"You need to calm down, Alice." Claire frowned at her, then turned to her brother as she helped him to his feet, "And you should have known better than to stay out of her way, Chris."

While Chris only took Claire's words as a sisterly concern and shrugged it off, Alice felt genuinely guilty. Then she heard Wesker's chuckle and her anger returned, though she didn't act on it this time.

"Ah, yes. Miss Redfield had agreed with me that you needed to be monitored."

"I did not say anything like that." Claire responded. She crossed her arms across her chest once again, an action which Alice learned as keeping something to herself.

"But you implied it." Wesker smirked, "And given your concerns about Agent Abernathy... I say, you do have a valid point."

"What is he talking about, Claire?" Alice looked at the redhead, who was avoiding her gaze. If Claire had something to do with Wesker's plan on pairing her up with Alice for the mission, then the redhead must have thought that Alice isn't trustworthy enough to succeed alone. It hurt her ego, a bit, but she felt betrayed more than having her pride pettily wounded.

"I was only asking him to let me come with you, as a partner, in all your missions."

"Claire, do you have any idea what you've gotten yourself into?"

"I know, Alice." Claire said as she finally met her eyes. The tone in her voice was both gentle and firm at the same time, leaving no room for the brunette to argue, "But I can't let you go out there by yourself."

The other occupants in the room were observing the exchange quietly until Wesker interrupted before Alice or Claire could say anything else.

"I'm sure you two would like to continue this chat after the mission briefing. Time is of the essence, the B.O.W.s are on their way here as we speak. And I would loathe to see humans die because of your _petty_ quarrel." He returned to his position at the head of the table and stared everyone down until they returned to their seats. He looked quite smug at whatever control he still has over the high-ranked officers of the Resistance. How he secured his position as the leader was still a mystery for Alice and she wondered if either Leon or Ada knew.

Alice knew that Wesker has to be killed someday, but not now. Any in-fighting within the Resistance would only be counterproductive while the Red Queen and the clone are still out there.

"Now, where were we..."


	15. Chapter 15

**CH 15**

The Las Plagas virus was both a punishment for her failure to recapture Project Alice and her reward for her loyalty to the Red Queen.

Those Las Plagas undead from Umbrella Prime should have been submissive towards her, but she haven't mastered the nuances of her powers then.

Instead, it took all of her brute strength and inhuman constitution to survive the whole ordeal.

While she was hopelessly outnumbered, she had managed to snatch a grenade from one of the undead dressed in tactical clothing and shoved it to the gaping mouth of another who was about to take a chunk of flesh from her face. With a strong kick, she had sent it towards the majority of its horde and swam away from them as fast as she could, with a few undead literally nipping at her heels. She braced herself – it was easier said than done when underwater – as soon as the grenade went off then she had blacked out, for how long, she had no idea.

When the Las Plagas inside of her brought her back to life, she found herself lying on her back amongst ice and snow. She turned on her side to empty the contents of her stomach and her lungs before finally breathing for the first time in hours.

What she had been through was a long, torturous baptismal. She had emerged from the deathly cold waters as a new being.

She is no longer a mere copy of one of Umbrella's fallen. She had conquered death and now she's a powerful, unstoppable weapon herself. She had proven her worth to become Umbrella's sole champion. Following the imprinted purpose for her life, she evolved and she will conquer the lesser beings until her death – and most possibly, undeath.

The first thing she did, after checking if she had fully healed, was to pick up the pieces of the scarab. It was sacrilege how the traitor Project Alice took it away from Jill. Now it's all up to her to fulfill the Red Queen's will, to cleanse the world of inferior humans.

Throughout her lone journey, she eventually picked up a skill that soon became her greatest weapon against the Resistance. A stray Kipepeo flew by and she thought it would have been very convenient if the creature could take her anywhere she wanted to be.

Then, like pulling an invisible string, she drew the creature towards her. It didn't attack her. Instead, it was subservient and ready to be directed. Realizing what she can do with the dominant Las Plagas in her, she began pulling more strings.

At first, only a few of them answered her call. But after days of continued practice, they came in groups of tens. Then after a week, hundreds.

With her thralls by her side, she traveled to Germany, seeking out the abandoned underground Umbrella facility in Berlin. She stayed there for a day, to communicate with the Red Queen by using the available and still functioning computers in the facility, and to find a way to repair the scarab.

The Red Queen had ordered her to abandon the scarab, it was futile since there are no supplies of P30.

Her mission is clear, her top priority is to eliminate Project Alice followed by the traitors Albert Wesker and Jill Valentine.

She felt an ounce of disappointment, but she didn't dare express it.

Bringing back the scarab meant bringing Jill Valentine back to the light – if she can get a hold of her, to let her see that being under the Red Queen's influence is much more wonderful than being with the doomed humans. She's quite fond of the woman, it would be a shame to kill her.

The Red Queen expects utmost obedience after all.

With one last look of the scarab, she left the facility and left Europe, already forgetting about the hope of reuniting with her former comrade. It was just her now.

Days later, she arrived in the American soil while being carried by a Kipepeo and proceeded further inland on foot – mounting a licker is impractical since the creature have no fur to hold on to and she's tired being carried around by a Kipepeo – heading towards the state of Nevada, calling and organizing enthralled B.O.W.s on her way.

Sand crunched underfoot as she approached the unassuming shed in the middle of nowhere. The wind gave brief respite from the heat from the sun. A licker flicked its tongue to her left boot, greeting her.

She verbally commanded the licker to stay, even though words were unnecessary. She's tired of talking to herself and her attempts in conversing with mutated creatures were pointless.

She kicked the door open then marched towards the table situated in the middle of the room with eagerness. She waited for a few seconds for the two halves of the table to separate and reveal a passage.

But nothing happened.

With a sneer, she stomped on the floorboards, thinking that the activating mechanism must be broken after several months of unuse. She kicked the table from its fixed position, sent it flying across the room, and went down to her knees to punch through the wooden floorboards, ignoring the splinters stuck under her skin, until her knuckles met the metal door of the hidden underground elevator.

She thought she was strong enough to tear it open herself. But even with her superhuman state, she only managed to dent the metal only a little.

It's been almost two weeks since her infection and she expected the Las Plagas to make her stronger each day, but this proved otherwise. Letting out a frustrated sigh, she took a chair outside the shed before commanding two lickers to fight each other for her own entertainment.

The days have been very lonely for her. Especially when she's the only one who can talk while her thralls just grunt or growl at her.

_**-xxx-**_

There was music. It was faint, but she could still hear it. It's rare for her to listen to music – even rarer since she arrival here with her mother and the others – and she thought it would be nice to hear it clearly. Her feet followed where the sound came from, but as soon as she turned around a corner, it faded away.

Disappointment etched on her youthful features before realizing that she had unintentionally strayed from K-Mart's side several minutes ago.

She was expecting the blonde to notice that she was gone by now, but it seems that wasn't the case. She regretted not holding her hand while they were heading to the recreation area. She's not worried though, she isn't lost, she knew these corridors and she's a smart girl.

But she's torn between heading to her original destination and be reunited with K-Mart, or investigate who was playing the music earlier. After walking further into the corridor, her curiosity won over and she pressed an ear to each door that she would pass by.

Each room sounded the same to her. Empty and quiet.

Where do most people go at this hour? What would they be doing?

As she pondered on her own questions, there was a distinctive sound of foot falls coming from behind her. She thought K-Mart had found her, so she turned around expecting to see the kind-faced blonde.

"Hello, little girl."

But instead, it was the Mad Hatter – or at least that's the name she remembered from their first encounter. Even without her usual black long coat, she still recognized her. She was wearing a dirty shirt that was supposed to be white, black pants and a pair of combat shoes with its laces untied and in disarray. Her eyes were partially hidden by her fringe, but her facial features were still visible, even in the corridor's poor lighting. The Mad Hatter grinned. "What's your name?"

"Becky." She answered without any thought of consequence. The lanky woman looked a bit scary but she tries to be brave, like her mother.

"Lovely... Lovely name... Lovely Becky." The Mad Hatter held out a bony hand – the joints of her digits were well-pronounced, the veins at the back of her palm bulging through the thin layer of skin, the wrist thin and fragile. Her grin became a tad wider, yet it lacked the enthusiasm of a genuine smile. "Come with me."

Becky frowned and shook her head no. Even though she recalled that her mother – her _present _mother – never said anything about staying away from the Mad Hatter, she still has the innate urge to protect herself by being not too trusting.

"Why not?" The grin was still there, but it looked more like a snarl now. Becky thought that Cheshire Cat would have been a more fitting name for her right now. "I won't hurt you, little girl."

If Becky wasn't wearing her hearing aides, she wouldn't understand her. When the Mad Hatter speaks, her lips barely move, only maintaining the mirthless grin. It made her voice sound hollow and monotonic.

"Do you know how hungry I am, little girl?" A scarlet tongue darted past chapped lips, "Very, very hungry... Hmmm... Yes..."

Becky frowned and moved her feet backwards to put distance between her and the Mad Hatter. Seeing this, the lanky woman grabbed the child's shoulder to hold her still. The grip wasn't painful but it was uncomfortable and Becky doesn't like it.

The Mad Hatter leaned down to her eye level and Becky scrunched up her little nose – the lanky woman smelled like a heap of old rusty nails. The girl held her breath as soon as the Mad Hatter inhaled loudly, sniffing her like a hound, before letting out a satisfied hum. She tilted her head a little to the side and the fringe fell away due to gravity, revealing a pair of the darkest eyes that Becky have ever seen. They don't look threatening or dangerous at all, but unfocused and empty. And sad.

She felt a pang of sympathy for the woman. In her short young life, she have never seen anyone look so hopeless – even though the Mad Hatter never outwardly express the emotion. Somehow, Becky knew. Just like how she knew that Auntie Jill never was a bad person, despite what she saw back in Russia. Or how she knew that her new mother didn't love her like her real mother did, but she's okay with it because she's still loved.

With a new-found courage, Becky grasped the Mad Hatter's forearm with both hands. She pulled the thin arm away to remove the uncomfortable weight on her shoulder before she held the Mad Hatter's hand. The skin on the palm was rough and it scraped against her own, but the girl didn't mind. She came to accept the fact that almost everyone in this place have calloused hands.

As she put one foot in front of the other, she felt a sense of pride in seeing the Mad Hatter following her lead. When she smiled at her encouragingly, the woman only pulled back her lips in a thin, neutral line.

_**-xxx-**_

"You don't have to come with me, Claire. It's dangerous out there."

They were in the armory. People were milling about, picking up weapons and ammunition, arming themselves for the forthcoming battle. There was constant chatter in the background, voicing out their anxieties to one another, though it the words were laced with dark humor in order mask their fears.

Claire fastened a gun holster to her belt then picking up magazines for her sidearm and assault rifle, purposely delaying her response to Alice's repeating plea. The woman in question was beside her, strapping various knives and shurikens on her person. Claire was mildly annoyed, not to Alice herself, but to her somewhat lackadaisical approach to choosing her arsenal. Sure, Alice's superhuman abilities are her own weapons – Claire kept reminding herself that, but it still doesn't give her any reassurance that the brunette couldn't get hurt, despite her healing factor.

"Claire?"

The redhead let out a huff, turned to Alice and rested both her hands on her hips, taking on an assertive stance. "What would you want me to do then, Alice? I can't just let you go out there by yourself. And you know damn well that I don't like to sit around and look pretty."

"Do you have any idea what Wesker is assigning me to do?"

Claire grimaced. Of course, she doesn't. All she asked from Wesker was to be Alice's partner, and the man had agreed to "keep an eye on the Resistance's most valuable asset". Claire didn't think that way, she was only purely concerned about Alice's safety and recklessness, and Wesker somehow took advantage of this. "All I know is that I can't let you go out there without someone watching your back, Alice."

She knew that Alice is adamant to persuade her otherwise. But Claire's will is as strong as Alice's strength. Both of them are starting to sound like a broken record now.

Alice sighed and looked around conspicuously, as if anyone might be eavesdropping. "Partner or not, I'm not planning to tell you this, but... Wesker wants me to go behind enemy lines."

Claire frowned. Wesker never mentioned that during their mission briefing. "He never said anything about that to me."

"It's for the sake of morale," Alice rolled her eyes, unsure if she agrees with Wesker or not, "people need to believe that I'm around to help them so that they would keep on fighting."

The redhead scoffed and muttered, more to herself than to Alice, angrily, "So he's fine with withholding this information from me even if I volunteered to go with you? Is he planning to get me killed again?"

Her last sentence made Alice put her hands on Claire's shoulders, "No." She shook her head, "No. I won't let anything happen to you."

Claire shrugged Alice's hands away, though she immediately missed the contact. "_No_, Alice."

She didn't want Alice to misunderstand her, but if she can persuade Alice by pretending to be angry with her, then she would act this way.

She watched the crease forming on Alice's forehead and how she threaded her fingers through her dark hair. Claire tried not to stare as they settled on an uneasy silence, so she focused on adjusting her body armor and the straps around her waist.

But when Alice gave up and muttered about seeing Becky before they go, Claire reacted on instinct. She grabbed Alice's arm to stop her from leaving. She's not sure what she's doing until the last second she let Alice lean down and rest her forehead against hers. The action was almost automatic. Claire watched Alice close her eyes and breathed in deeply and she felt herself shiver. Alice's lips were only a couple of inches away from hers and she ached to close the distance.

When the urge became too much for her to contain, she leaned forward – only to meet nothing but air.

It wasn't rejection though. Alice had already pulled away, Claire just acted a little too late.

There was confusion in Alice's eyes, but they weren't judgmental. It was as if she didn't expect herself to react the way she did when Claire stopped her.

"I..." The syllable came out raspier than Claire expected. Alice cleared her throat and resumed, "I have to go see Becky now."

Claire waited until Alice was gone before she releasing a breath that she didn't know she was holding.

She clenched her jaw leaned against the shelf rather roughly, not caring about the stares that she was getting from other people in the armory. Claire brought up a hand to her mouth and tried to muffle her own frustrated groan. She was this close in kissing Alice and she wondered if it was a good thing that she didn't. It was too soon and she might only disappoint herself if she finds out that Alice's feelings for her were only platonic. _If_ they were platonic.

But she can't think about that now, she needs to focus on the mission first.

_**-xxx-**_

Ada stopped in her tracks and frowned at the strange sight.

She's not surprised that her charge managed to escaped – it was inevitable, given Hatta's abilities and mischief. However, she's more surprised that a little girl is accompanying her without any trouble or a hint of fear. Ada was always nervous at the idea of children being around Hatta ever since she heard her ranting about "lovely children who smell nice".

"What are you doing here?" She heard herself say, but she's unsure whether she directed her words towards Hatta or Becky.

The girl signed with her free hand, her voice airy. "Your sister is hungry."

Ada blinked when she heard the word. _Sister_. It sounded foreign to her, but she didn't dislike it either. The word sounded so much better than Wesker's demeaning "pet".

As she secured her crossbow to her back, she moved towards Hatta, whose coat was absent, then cupped the smaller woman's face with both of her hands. Dark eyes were visible and looking at her, but with the corridor's poor lighting, Ada can't tell if they actually _se__e_ her.

"Vivian?" Ada asked.

The light reflected on the smaller woman's eyes shifted before she responded with an ambiguous hum and a monotonic voice. "Right here."

Ada smiled, taking the phrase as an affirmative, and leaned down a little to place a kiss on Vivian's forehead, not caring if there's another person to witness this. She always make sure that it's Vivian, she wanted her to be more self-aware and more sane when being given affection.

Ada pulled away to see Becky observing them quietly, her hand still holding Vivian's. The Agent was reminded that the girl isn't supposed to be anywhere but with the civilians in the recreation area.

"Shouldn't anyone be looking for you right now?"

The girl didn't miss a beat to tell her that she knows her mother will find her and she knows where to go. But Ada doesn't take any chances. So she accompanied the girl to the recreation area, only to be met by two young recruits on the way.

One of them, a dark-haired Latina, sighed as if a weight was lifted from her shoulders, "See? If they love you, they always come back. Can I go now? I got my own mother and daughter thing to deal with." Her eyes darted from Ada then to Vivian, but said nothing else before leaving them.

The blonde recruit, whom Ada remembered as the young woman who somehow have a special relationship with Jill, coughed nervously when she recognized Vivian. "Sorry to trouble you. I should have kept a closer eye on her."

"No trouble. She did me a favor anyway." Ada responded fluidly, watching Becky left her side to take the young woman's hand. "You have an important job. Keep them safe."

The young woman nodded profusely, her apprehension towards Vivian's silent presence showing through her exaggerated actions as she not-so-subtly pulled Becky further away from them. It seems that people are going to be more cautious around Vivian or Hatta, now that the story about her recent cannibalism circulated around the Resistance like wildfire.

She remembered her earlier intentions prior to her encounter with Becky and Vivian. She needed to see Jill before going to her assigned post, but she had wasted enough time by escorting Becky already and she had to find some food for Vivian – hopefully the mess hall is still available, even without the staff. This young woman will suffice.

"Oh, and before I forget..." Ada pulled out a syringe from her pocket, its label scratched out, handing it over to the blonde. "Send Agent Valentine my regards."

"What's... this?" The young woman asked tentatively, trying to make out the label, but Ada knew it was futile for anyone. She made sure of it being so. But Jill will know what it is right anyway once she sees it.

"A gift." Ada said simply. If she's right about the special relationship between Jill and this young woman, then her job here is done. "To be honest, she's the most incompetent among the Agents. So I'm not sure if she deserves to have it, but it's your choice if you give it to her."

The young woman frowned and as Ada expected, responded in Jill's defense. "I think she worked just as hard as you and Alice do. What you said about her is not true."

Ada let a triumphant smile show, "I trust that you will give that to her then."

But the young woman demonstrated an unexpected display of backbone. She clearly isn't a pushover, despite her looks. "You may be an Agent, but Jill is my friend." She held the unmarked syringe up and Ada hoped nobody was paying attention to them. "I want to know what this is."

She raised a brow at her, impressed. She sees this as a good thing. The Resistance needed more people who won't follow blindly to authority without question, especially when Wesker is the highest authority. "Jill does, but whether if she would tell you or not, that's entirely up to her." She ended their conversation in a stern tone, hoping that she did the right thing. "Now, you have your orders, recruit. Send my regards to Jill."

She turned to leave with Vivian – _if_ she is still Vivian and didn't revert back to Hatta yet, followed closely behind. As they made their way to the mess hall, she decided to sate her curiosity and checked on her charge.

Ada Wong was pleasantly surprised to see Vivian's dark eyes looking back at her.


End file.
